Crystal Droplets
by Breadthless
Summary: AU. She was kind and too forgiving. Everyone picked on her, beat her. She never seemed to hear them, but it was a heavy burden. What happens when she meets Syaoran, a seemingly ordinary bully? Will she forget the past, and move on? S/S
1. Meeting Syaoran

Summary: AU-She was kind and too forgiving. Everyone picked on her, beat her. She never seemed to hear them, but it was a heavy burden. What happens when she meets Syaoran, a seemingly ordinary bully? Will she forget the past, and move on? S/S

AN: My first CCS fanfic……..no flames, plz…Only this chapter, and parts of the story will be in POV.

* * *

Crystal Dropplets

By Dream4luv

Chapter 1-Meeting Syaoran

* * *

It's so quiet at home. I wish someone was here…but no one ever is. It's so depressing. Maybe I should call….see how dad's doing before I leave?

It's empty at home. No one's ever here…anymore…

except me.

I grab my backpack and head towards the door. I have to walk to school. And I hope no one sees me.

Pulling open the front door, I slowly step outside. The street seems so quiet, almost deserted. I smile sadly and before I shut the door, I whisper two lonely words into the vast emptiness of the hallway, "Good bye…"

* * *

The roads are foggy from last night's rain. Everything's so quiet. It's a new school year. Grade eleven. But I wish it were graduation. Only a few more years…no biggie. I mean…Sakura Kinomoto can take it, right?

Of course.

Because I have no choice to.

Besides, I should be glad I can go to school, with how chaotic it's been.

I'm almost there now. I can see all the social cliques going about their usual chatter about the latest gossip, music, and fashion, etc. It's nice to belong somewhere.

Too bad I don't.

I shuffle silently to my locker. I hope they don't come.

"Well, well, look who it is." A voice from behind me sneers.

PLEASE don't let it be them. But I know it is. School's a nightmare.

"Oh, hello…Daidouji-san." I reply with a (hopefully) pleasant smile. As I turn around, I notice that there are two new members of their group. One is a boy with sharp, cold amber eyes, unrelenting. And the other is a girl of about the same age with a slightly more red tinge to her eyes, and quite a fascinating hair style.

"Kinomoto." The girl glares at me. "Syaoran, Meiling…stay away from her. She's trouble."

So those two are with her? Great. Now I have two more tormentors to deal with. This is just the best first day of school I've ever had!

* * *

I walk into my first period English class. And I notice, that boy from earlier is here as well. He looks at me with a cool gaze before turning his head away. I sit down in the back of the classroom.

The teacher walks into the classroom. She smiles at all of us. "Well, every semester, we will have a new seating chart, so you can get to know your peers. The chart right now is placed in alphabetical order, when I call your name. Please move to your seat."

And so she starts placing us in alphabetical rows.

"Kinomoto, Sakura!" she points to a desk in the first seat of the third row.

"Li, Syaoran!" To my horror, she points to the one behind me. DAMN! DAMN! DAMN!

I shiver. I doubt that kid's up to any good.

The class goes by smoothly. 'Syaoran' hasn't done anything yet. Maybe he's better than them…

A stray hair falls into my face and I quickly brush it back quickly, but my fingers are stuck to the back of my head! How-?

I turn around and look at the amber eyed boy. He's smirking at me, and looking pointedly at my hand, which is now stuck to my hair. I just smile at him. I don't want to fight. I raise my free hand to ask for the bathroom pass.

"Yes, Kinomoto-chan?"

"Um…may I please use the restroom?"

"Class is almost over, surely you can wait for a few minutes?"

I blush. "Yes." I whisper quietly.

"What was that Kinomoto-chan? I don't want your attitude in my class!"

The class stares at me and snickers.

"I'm sorry. It won't happen again." I say politely.

"I sure hope it won't. I'll be keeping an eye on you."

I look away.

Li Syaoran snickers behind me. And then I can feel his breath on my neck, and I know he's smirking again. "This is just the beginning, Kinomoto. There will be a lot more to come."

* * *

The bell rings, and everyone heads out for their five minute break. I hurry out of the classroom and head into the nearest bathroom.

My back faces the mirror as I try to look at what's in my hair. GROSS! It's a piece of gum!

I hastily pull it out and dab water on it, trying to rub out all the pink spots in my hair. But, today is just not my day. Daidouji and her groupie come in to use the bathroom, and reapply their makeup. And they see me standing in front of the mirror. They grin at each other and advance toward me. The new girl, I'm assuming is Meiling, pushes me into the sink rim. And the other girls turn on the faucets and throw water all over my uniform. Everything is soaked except for my skirt.

They give me devilish grins. "Kinomoto! Makeover time!"

Before I know it, I have huge mascara blobs on my face, with sketches of eyeliner in a few places. Bright red lipstick is drawn in two ugly circles on my cheek bones, and lip gloss is all around my lips. My clothes are caked in layers of foundation and eye-shadow. The girls smile sweetly at me. "Catch you around, Kinomoto."

They leave laughing.

I hear the late bell ringing outside, and I sigh. I have to get cleaned up first. I turn on the faucets and leave them running as I catch the water in my cupped hands. I splash the cold water over my face, scrubbing as hard as I can. When I finally look in the mirror, I see that the makeup has washed away. My clothes…well, they'll just have to stay this way until I get home. I catch some running water, and the crystalline liquid drips through my fingers.

My mother used to tell me I had beautiful fingers.

'They're long and elegant, just as a princess's should be. They're beautiful, just like you. Never forget that. Never lower yourself to think that you are inferior to anyone because you aren't.'

That was a long time ago, though.

And things have changed…

* * *

AN: Ooo, PLEASE REVIEW! PRETTY PLEASE? 


	2. Trouble at Work

Summary: AU-She was kind and too forgiving. Everyone picked on her, beat her. She never seemed to hear them, but it was a heavy burden. What happens when she meets Syaoran, a seemingly ordinary bully? Will she forget the past, and move on? S/S

AN: Thx for the reviews! It makes me feel so loved. I can't believe it, but I spelled Droplets wrong in my title………oh well

**NOTE: THE STORY IS NO LONGER IN SAKURA'S POV, AND ALL OF SAKURA'S CLASSES ARE TAUGHT BY THE SAME TEACHER, IN THE SAME CLASSROOMS.**

**

* * *

**

"talking"

'thinking'

_flashback_

_

* * *

_

Crystal Dropplets

By Dream4luv

Chapter 2-Trouble at Work

* * *

Sakura cleaned herself up to a partially acceptable appearance. She turned off the faucet and walked into the hall, heading for her class.

It was so empty in the hallways, just like her home.

Sakura shivered. She sucked in her breath and pushed her fingers on her hair to make sure it wasn't sticking up in strange directions. She then slid open the door to her class room.

"Nice of you to join us, Kinomoto-chan." The teacher said, looking at the disheveled girl, but not showing much sympathy towards her.

"Um…I, well, I…just spilled some of my makeup, so I was cleaning up." The girl lied.

"Take a seat. If you show up late again, I'll have to give you after school detention."

"Yes, ma'am." She said quietly, heading towards her desk.

The teacher coughed. "Anyways, on with the lesson."

Sakura pulled out her workbook and looked at the board to take notes.

Class passed quickly, with no further disturbances. And soon, the lunch bell had rung, signaling for the forty minute break that all the students of the class looked forward to. Everyone rushed out of the class, either carrying their lunches or their lunch money.

Sakura was the last one out of the classroom. She carried a lightweight paper sack containing her lunch.

Upon arrival at the cafeteria, Sakura spotted a lone table in the corner and took a seat. She knew no one would sit beside her. No one wanted to because everyone hated her guts.

A nerdy student with big glasses walked past her, heading for the next table. The girl was clutching two big lumpy textbooks in her arms along with some note paper. She suddenly tripped over the leg of a lunch table, and fell, books and everything scattering all over the floor.

Sakura saw and immediately set her sandwich down to help the girl pick up her stuff. She picked up the scraps of paper, and neatly piled them together, handing it to the other girl. "Here." She said, holding the papers out and smiling. "You dropped these."

The nerd pushed her geeky glasses up her nose, and looked Sakura in the face. She rudely snatched the papers back. "I can pick them up myself, Kinomoto!" The girl got up and left for her friends, leaving Sakura kneeling on the floor.

Sakura slowly got up and walked back to her table. She sighed. 'No one likes me, and I don't belong. Everyone belongs but me…I'm such a stranger.'

* * *

"Now listen up class, we are going to be doing more than a few projects in this classroom. I will be ASSIGNING the partners, and they will REMAIN your partners for the whole school year. No complaining, got that?"

The class groaned, but nodded their heads.

"Now, here's the list…" The teacher unfolded a piece of paper that had been sitting on her desk.

Unfortunately for Sakura, the list was also in alphabetical order.

"…Kinomoto, Sakura and Li, Syaoran…"

Sakura felt like bashing her head into the desk. 'I'm dead.'

Syaoran grinned, his amber eyes shimmering in delight. Raising his hand he asked, "When will our first project be?"

The teacher glanced at him and smiled, "I was just getting to that. In this class, you are required to turn in a project every three weeks. It will be done outside of school, meaning there is absolutely no class time to work on these. The first few will be relatively easy to get you going. I will hand out the rubric for the first project tomorrow."

"This'll be fun." The boy whispered to no one in particular.

* * *

After school, Sakura ran outside the school building quickly, hurrying home. She only had half an hour to change into her work clothes.

By the time Sakura had opened the door, she was out of breath. Laying down her backpack on the table, she hurried upstairs to change.

She combed out her mussed up hair, making it a little more presentable than it had been before. Then she ran out the door again, making sure to put some cat food into her pet, Kero's, dish.

* * *

"Hi, everyone!"

"Oh hey, Sakura, I'm glad you could make it on time…for a second, I thought you wouldn't come." Rika said, smiling.

"Of course. I just…had to get myself cleaned up, that's all…"

Rika's face darkened. "Look…Sakura, I'm sorry for what happened at school today. I…I should've stopped them, but they…"

"I know, they would've turned on you too. It's okay. We don't need the both of us to be in a mess." Sakura said.

Rika hung out with Tomoyo on a daily basis, and hanging out with her meant she had to bully others. She constantly felt awful about it, but, she was so scared. Scared of being bullied if she angered Tomoyo.

"Thank you, so much, Sakura…" Rika said sadly, folding her hands together and looking down, ashamed of herself, "how can you be so forgiving, after…after everything I've done?"

"It's not your fault." Sakura replied. Rika was her only friend, even if it was just part-time. She could never blame a friend. She laughed to herself. She could never blame anybody. Surely everyone had a reason as to why they acted the way they did.

"Still………..thank you."

"Alright, alright, girls, enough chit-chat. It's time to get to work. Rika, I want you on counter, Sakura, I want you waiting tables. Got that?"

The girls nodded.

The customers soon came in and the girls took the positions of people who had been working before them.

The next group came in, chattering loudly. Sakura looked up to find them picking a table to sit at. She groaned. It was Tomoyo, with a group of her closest friends: Chiharu, Yamazaki, Naoko, and of course her boyfriend, Eriol.

Eriol was the whole reason Tomoyo was popular to begin with. Before, she was just a regular girl with a close group of girl friends. But then, at the end of grade 9, Eriol Hiiragizawa had asked her out, and they'd gone out until the middle of grade 10. They'd broken up after that, and no one really knew what the reason was. Tomoyo was prepared to being her regular self, but she'd been excepted into the inner circle. Everyone had cooed "aww, poor Tomoyo-chan, Eriol's first long-term girlfriend, such a shame that a perfect couple like that would break up." No one knew they had gotten together again until today.

Sakura mentally beat herself as she took a notepad and a pencil over to the table.

"Good afternoon, may I take your orders, please?"

Tomoyo looked up, and grinned, "Oh, hi, Kinomoto, didn't know you worked here. I guess we'll have to visit more often, huh?"

"Your orders, please."

"Aww…you don't have to be so stiff with us…"

Sakura really didn't want to make a scene. She just smiled tightly and said in a cheerful voice, "I'm sorry I can't stay and chat, Daidouji-san, but this is my job, and I don't get paid for making small talk with my customers. May I take your orders?"

Tomoyo grunted, "Whatever. I'm sure your boss doesn't mind that much."

"If you feel uncomfortable giving your orders to a schoolmate, then I suppose I could get someone else to take them…"

Tomoyo blew her bangs out of her eyes, "Fine, fine, you're no fun! We'll have three vanilla cappuccinos and one cup of iced tea."

Sakura wrote the orders down on the notepad and came back shortly. She left to attend to another group of people and sighed.

Why did she have this awful feeling that work days were going to be just as bad as school?

* * *

AN: Whew, that took a while to get out of me…PLEASE REVIEW? PLEASE? PRETTY PLEASE? 


	3. Assigned Projects

Summary: AU-She was kind and too forgiving. Everyone picked on her, beat her. She never seemed to hear them, but it was a heavy burden. What happens when she meets Syaoran, a seemingly ordinary bully? Will she forget the past, and move on? S/S

AN: Thx for all the reviews again. I feel so luved. I know it's weird how Sakura gets bullied, but it's…..dun dun dun……the plot. Lol

* * *

"talking"

'thinking'

_written/typed_

_flashback_

_

* * *

_

Crystal Dropplets

By Dream4luv

Chapter 3-Assigned Projects

* * *

Sakura was at school again…early, sitting in the empty classroom. The world outside her seemed so hollow. She wore a clean uniform and had brought an extra uniform just in case something like the day before occurred again.

At half past seven, the school bell rang, students filed into the classroom chatting away loudly to each other.

Syaoran took his seat behind Sakura. Today, he was chatting with Yamazaki. Guess they'd become friends, or something similar to it.

"Hi, Kinomoto." Syaoran said slowly, bending down and looking her in the eye, grinning.

"Hello, Li-kun." The emerald eyed girl gave the boy a small smile.

The sound of the teacher's skirts was heard entering the classroom, and all the students sat down in their assigned seats.

Sakura wondered what Syaoran was doing, saying hi to her.

Throughout the first math lesson, Syaoran hadn't tried anything funny. She wondered what he was up to…

"Ok, that's our math lesson for today." The teacher said, smiling at the class, and shutting her textbook. Next, she pulled out an English text book. "Next, we'll start on our English lesson, please take out your texts."

Sakura reached into her backpack and felt something strange as she took hold of her book, she looked down…and saw, saw…a snake! It was tiny, and had a few red and yellow bands on it. The girl shuddered in fear and squeaked.

Syaoran laughed quietly to himself.

"Kinomoto-chan! What is wrong with you _today_?" The teacher demanded angrily.

Syaoran expected the girl to scream and say that a snake was in her backpack, but Sakura just put a hand over her mouth to calm her nerves as she took a shuddering breath. "I-It's nothing…I just, thought I saw…something."

"Ok, well, don't scare us like that again!"

"I-I'm sorry."

"You've been saying that a lot, but you never seem to mean it!"

"I…it won't happen again, I promise."

"I hope so. Make a promise; keep a promise, Kinomoto-chan!"

"It won't happen again." Sakura said slowly.

The teacher shrugged her words off and looked back to her text book, "Now, today, we're reading the play, 'Romeo and Juliet'…"

* * *

"…ok, class, after lunch, come back quickly so I can explain our first project."

The class rushed out the door, three girls even getting stuck in the door frame from trying to leave too fast.

Sakura smiled gloomily. Today had not been the best day. And the thought of doing the project with Syaoran Li as her partner made her want to throw up.

She carried her lunch out along with a notebook and pen outside. She'd decided eating on the bench outside today. The sun was shining, and Tomoyo's crowd never ate out here.

The girl chewed on an apple thoughtfully as she looked at her blank notebook and tapped her pen on the pad of papers.

_I wish they'd accept me…_

_For who I really am._

_What do I have to be?_

_Must I act the same?_

_For acceptance?_

_For a chance?_

_Because that's all I'm asking for._

_Is it too much?_

_Am I the problem?_

_Why can't you see?_

_That I'm someone too…?_

Sakura put down her pencil, looking at her work, awkwardly. She'd never knew she felt that way before, but when she wrote, it was like the feeling part of her mind that even she couldn't see would show itself.

The sharp piercing ring of the bell was heard, and Sakura shoved her lunch into the paper sack and threw it in the trash, heading towards class.

* * *

"Now that everyone's here, I can hand out the requirements for this project."

The teacher passed out a bunch of papers down the rows and each student took one and handed the pile down the rest of the row.

Sakura glanced at the paper.

COMMUNITY SERVICE-

YOU WILL BE DOING THIS PROJECT FOR A HEALTH GRADE. YOU AND YOU'RE PARTNER WILL BE VOLUNTEERING AT ONE OF THE FOLLOWING CHOICES, YOU MUST COMPLETE 24 HOURS!

TOMOEDA ANIMAL SHELTER

CLAMP HOSPITAL

UT (UNIVERSITY OF TOMOEDA)

MITSUKI'S COMPUTER SHOP

PLEASE TAKE THE REST OF THIS PERIOD TO DECIDE WHERE YOU WISH TO WORK WITH YOUR PARTNER.

AFTER YOUR 24 HOURS ARE UP, YOU NEED TO WRITE A BRIEF REPORT ABOUT THE EXPERIENCE.

Sakura turned tentatively towards Syaoran, and pasted a smile to her face. "So, where do you think we should go?"

"NOT where I _think_ we should go, we _are_ going to go to Clamp Hospital!

"But…" Sakura said, thinking if it really would be wise to not go with his idea. "I was thinking we could go and work at the animal shelter." She said as cheerfully as she could.

"Well, you thought wrong! We're going to Clamp Hospital, and that's final!" Syaoran glared at the girl.

"I…" Sakura was about to argue, but didn't want a fight to break out. She really didn't need the attention right now. "Well, ok, I'm sure it'll be fun." She said sincerely.

"That's right! Now go tell the teacher!"

"……………ok" Sakura got up and walked to the desk.

Syaoran sat in his seat, watching her. Yamazaki came next to him and whispered while smirking, "having fun?"

"Yeah, I have such an obedient little puppy." Syaoran chuckled to the other boy. He eyed Sakura as she walked back to her desk with a happy smile on her face. 'She's so stupid,' Syaoran thought, 'she always has that smile on her face. Probably doesn't even realize I'm bossing her around, or bullying her. Naïve little girl. She's so happy, with that happy smile on her face. She doesn't deserve to be happy…she doesn't understand what it's like to have life be so cruel to you…to me!'

Syaoran thought back to his father. A drunk driver had hit his car one night when it was raining heavily outside. Syaoran was only eight. He hadn't understood.

"_He's never coming back, Syaoran. Never ever coming home again."_

Syaoran closed his eyes at the memory. All the voices of the classroom drowned out by his mother's voice.

"_Why not, Mama? Why not? He'll come to visit, won't he?" little Syaoran tugged at his mother's Chinese kimono, panic stricken, tears building in his eyes from confusion. What was his mother talking about? Baba would come home, he would!_

"_No, Syaoran, he won't. He's never visiting, never coming back. We'll never see him again."  
_

_Tears streaked down the boy's cheeks. He didn't understand. Why was Mama crying? Why were his sisters crying? Why wasn't Baba ever coming home?_

_

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AN: That's all for now! Please read and review! Pretty please? I'll be your best friend!

Just to get some stuff clear, Baba and Mama mean Father and Mother in Chinese, so when he said "Baba" it was his dad he was talking about.


	4. Waiting at her Door

Summary: AU-She was kind and too forgiving. Everyone picked on her, beat her. She never seemed to hear them, but it was a heavy burden. What happens when she meets Syaoran, a seemingly ordinary bully? Will she forget the past, and move on? S/S

AN-Sorry for taking so long, but it's been busy, and finals are coming up! To a question asked by someone: yes, I have written before, but they don't turn out very good…but I've never written a CCS fic before! This chapter will probably be a little different, I'm gonna try it in **Syaoran's POV**!

* * *

"talking"

'thinking'

_written/typed_

_flashback_

_

* * *

_

Crystal Dropplets

By Dream4luv

Chapter 4-Waiting at her Door

* * *

The bell just rang. And that girl…….Sakura, is walking out the door and packing up her backpack with her pencils, pens, notebooks, textbooks, so on…

But whatever.

I slam a fist on her desk and she jumps, startled.

"We need to plan out hours for the volunteer work." I say.

"Yeah, we can do that tomorrow," she says quietly, keeping her eyes concentrated on her stuff. Does she think she's too good to look at me or what?

"No. We can't. We have to do it today, I'm busy tomorrow."

"I can't today, Li-kun, I have to do something after school."

I snort and glare at her. It's probably just an excuse.

"Just give me your phone number and address so I can find your house."

"B-but…well…ok."

She slowly takes out a sheet a crinkled sheet of paper and pen. She scribbles on the paper and hands it to me, and says quickly, "Don't come by today." Then she smiles, and hastily shuffles out of the room.

I'm just standing there, clutching at the sheet of paper.

Yeah right, like I'm gonna listen to her.

I pick up my stuff and hurry out of the room to use one of the school computers to locate her house.

* * *

Soon, I reach the Kinomoto girl's house. It looks normal. Light yellow walls, and a wall on the outside. Steps lead up to her plain brown door. To the side is a garden, the flowers don't look half bad.

I step up to the door and knock.

Stupid girl.

No one answers.

What the hell is she up to? The bitch.

I stand patiently next to the door.

And hours pass.

Where the hell is she?

Just when I'm about to leave, the girl comes home, looking like she could fall down dead any second.

I really don't care, though.

I didn't wait for nothing.

As she comes up the walk, she finally notices me leaning against the wall.

"Oh, Li-kun! I-I wasn't expecting you."

"Of course you weren't." I reply coolly.

"I'm sorry you had to wait, were you here long?" She asks.

"Just three and a half hours."

"Oh"

"Aren't you gonna let me in?"

"Um………I suppose," she trails off slowly, taking a key out of her pocket and slipping it into the keyhole.

Her face is so passive.

Why does she get to be so fucking happy! Stupid, stupid. She's so stupid! She doesn't deserve it. She has to have

Although I don't want to admit it, I'm jealous of her, how can she be so carefree all the time? Why does she smile because nothing's wrong! Because nothing in her life is wrong!

By this time, she has the door open, and she's holding it for me. I grunt and pass through the doorway.

Her house is clean. Nothing's anywhere.

But the very first thing I notice is that it's dark in the house. And it's quiet.

"Aren't your parents home?" I ask, breaking the sphere of silence.

"No." She answers quietly, putting her stuff on the table, and turning on the light. "So…do you want to start…?"

"Hmm"

She pulls out a chair for me to sit in, and then takes a seat herself.

I'm the one who's supposed to pull out the chair for her, but whatever, I've never been real big on manners and table etiquette anyways. Not since my dad died anyways. The family was always in a mess, and I was always finding any excuse to stay away from home.

"Ok, here's the deal, we go to the hospitals from 3:30 to 5:30 on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. That way, we'll be done in 2 weeks."

"I…can't do it on Wednesdays, because……."

"Because?" I repeat.

"I work on Wednesdays, from 3:00 to 6:00."

"Well, that's easy, just quit your job!" I say like it's the most obvious thing in the world.

She pauses and stares at me, not quite knowing what to say. "I can't, I need the money."

"For what? Shopping? Come on! You can lay off buying clothes for 2 weeks." I tell her. I mean, that's what all girls have jobs for right? Shopping and other girly stuff like that.

"I can't, I need it."

"OH COME ON!" I yell, losing my last string of patience, "GET OVER SHOPPING AND JUST QUIT YOUR STUPID JOB!"

"My family needs the money…" she says slowly, looking very unwilling to tell me whatever the reason is that her family needs the money. "I just can't."

"Yeah, riiggghhht." I say sarcastically, stretching my arms, and then folding them over my chest.

"I can't." She says more firmly this time but still looking uncomfortable about this situation. She sighs, and changes the subject, "Are you hungry? You waited for me so long, I'll go make some dinner…"

She quietly slips into the kitchen and I can here her banging cupboards and taking out plates and pots.

And then I here a crashing of glass, and a sharp gasp.

I hurry into the kitchen. I'm really not interested in being sued for murder…

As I peer into the kitchen, I find the girl rinsing her wrist and lower arm with cold water. Two shattered plates lie on the floor in pieces.

"What the hell just happened!"

She looks up at me with startled eyes, green eyes panicked. "O-oh, it's nothing." She stutters nervously. The only sound in the house is the running water. "D-don't worry about me. I just…dropped some plates, it was an accidental, no need to worry at all." She repeats in a cheerful voice.

I'm not stupid. I know something happened. Like I care. The girls such a clutz. "Whatever. I'm not worried." And I amble slowly out of the kitchen without looking back.

I sit in the living room, looking around the place. Where are her parents anyways? It's what? Almost seven? How late did they work…?

And then the girl stumbles out of the kitchen carrying two bowls filled with spaghetti.

It actually smells pretty good.

"Sorry," she apologizes, "I only know how to make noodles."

That's fine by me.

"Hnn." I grunt, trying to look like I normally do.

As she sits down to eat, I notice a really huge band-aid stuck on her wrist and parts of her lower arm. She probably cut herself when she dropped the plates or something.

The room's quiet. Neither of seems to want to say anything.

"So…" she starts casually, "Do you think you could…volunteer at the hospital on Tuesdays?"

A silence passes over us.

"I guess." I say reluctantly.

A smile of relief washes over her features. Didn't mean to make her happy, but I guess it's ok if I do it just this once, right? Besides, we'd be back at school tomorrow, and I can make her life miserable than…

* * *

AN: Sorry guys, if this chapters uneventful, but I'm really tired, and finals are coming up…so…yeah 


	5. Nadeshiko

Summary: AU-She was kind and too forgiving. Everyone picked on her, beat her. She never seemed to hear them, but it was a heavy burden. What happens when she meets Syaoran, a seemingly ordinary bully? Will she forget the past, and move on? S/S

AN-I swear I soo had this chapter ready on May 30th, but than stupid stupid had their servers overloaded, so I couldn't log in and update untilduring my vacation! I mean seriously, I dragged meself out of bed to write this chapter before I left the next day, I finish writing the chapter, and what happens! The server overloads...anyways I'm very very sorry!

BTW: I'm sorry if I get the color of Sakura's mom's eyes wrong...I really can't remember what color they are!

* * *

"talking" 

'thinking'

_written/typed_

_flashback

* * *

_

Crystal Dropplets 

By Dream4luv

Chapter 5-Nadeshiko

* * *

As soon as Syaoran had left, Sakura sighed and plopped down on the couch. She stared around gloomily. The house was so...quiet without anyone. In her heart, Sakura was kind of glad Syaoran had come by. It made the house more like...normal. For once, the house wasn't as empty. 

She smiled awkwardly at no one. And then her eyes fell on the picture of her mother. It was a beautiful picture; her mother was wearing a high school uniform, blue skirt reaching barely below her knees, one hand was brought up to block the sun from her eyes and the other was placed gently upon her boyfriend, Fujitaka's, shoulders. Fujitaka had both arms encircling Nadeshiko's slim waist. They were smiling at each other, and even in the photograph, anyone could see the love radiating between the two.

Sakura smiled at the picture. She remembered her mother, but shehad already forgotten a lot about her. She could recall the last few years though...She had sweet hazel eyes and such a beautiful smile that reached her eyes. She reached out and took the frame into her lap.

Sakura remembered her own baby photographs...she had once had a smile that reached the eyes, but then...

Sakura recalled that her mother had problems remembering people's faces. She just had a hard time remembering things. And...when Sakura had just turned eight her condition had gotten a lot worse.

_Nadeshiko laughed as she took Sakura's hand and guided her into the basement. The stairs creaked loudly as their weight was set upon it. "I told Fujitaka to fix these rickety old stairs...Oh well, I'll remind him later. It's just you and me time right now..." _

"_Mommy? What's in here?" Sakura chirped with a birthday cap placed over her head._

_Nadeshiko smiled mysteriously as she led Sakura down the steps, "It's a surprise. So I can't tell you...but since you're turning eight, I think your ready for this!"_

"_Oh, Mommy, Mommy! I can't wait!" Sakura giggled, green eyes sparkling with eagerness._

"_Ok, we'll hurry up then," Nadeshiko said quickening her pace down the steps. "You'll like it so much...you can even share it with your friend...Tomoyo...? Was that her name?"_

"_Yep! Tomoyo's my bestest -estest friend! I'm going to tell her about this right after-"_

_One of the rotten basement steps gave under and snapped in half. Sakura and her mother tumbled down the stairs. Sakura screamed in the fall, but she had landed safely on the ground...Nadeshiko had crashed head first into Sakura'seighth birthday surprise…a bicycle._

_Her father came rushing down the steps, and called an ambulance. They put Nadeshiko in intensive care...and she recovered, or, at least they thought she had. _

Tear drops fell onto the glass, and Sakura wiped her eyes hastily and sniffled. "I guess I just can't get over you..."

_(1 month later)_

_"Sakura, could you come help me with these...?"_

_Sakura ran outside. She found her mother kneeling outside, a shovel in hand, and an empty flower pot sitting next to her. "What do you want me to do?"_

_"Oh, Sakura! What are you doing out here?"_

_Sakura looked confused. Hadn't her mother asked her to help her? "You told me to come outside and help you!"_

_Nadeshiko looked thoughtful for a moment. And a few minutes passed, "OH! I did ask you didn't I? Silly me...I'm sorry, I have trouble remembering things these days..."_

_(1 Week Later)_

_"Mommy! It's time to get up, you promised me you would help me pick cherries today!"_

_Nadeshiko looked at Sakura strangely, and then she whispered, "Mommy...? I-I'msorry, but I'm afraid I've never met you before little girl."_

_Sakura's eyes watered, "Daddy! Daddy! Mommy...she doesn't know me! She-"_

_Fujitaka came hurrying up the stairs. "Nadeshiko! Nadeshiko! Are you all right?"_

"_Fujitaka...I don't know her, I've never seen her before...but she claims I'm her mother!"_

_"Shhh, it'll be ok. She's our daughter, and we have a son...Touya, remember?"_

_"I..."_

_After showing her a family photo album, everything seemed to be ok. "Oh! Sakura and Touya, I remember. I-I don't know what came over me, it's just like...suddenly I forgot..."_

_Weeks passed, and everything got worse. She couldn't remember Sakura or Touya, no matter how many albums passed. She was admitted to a mental hospital because there was nothing doctors could do to treat her condition. Another week passed, and then she couldn't even remember Fujitaka...it was like her memories of everything just slipped away. The doctors informed them that soon...she would forget who she was, she would forget how to walk, talk, read, move, eat,...and breathe. And then...she would die. _

Sakura remembered. She hadn't understood than. But her loving mother had become a vegetable. She couldn't remember how to do anything. And before she forgot how to move...she had had panic attacks when she woke up not knowing where she was, or even who she was. After she forgot how to eat, she'd fallen into a coma. She died one year after the accident, Sakura'sninth birthday.

"I visited you everyday, mom. You had all these tubes stuck in you to feed you food...and...this nice nurse told me that some people wake up if we keep talking to them! I came, everyday after school, and...on weekends. I told you about school...and, then they told us that the only reason you were still living was because you were on that awful respirator. They stopped feeding you...and then, dad decided to donate your organs to people who needed them...because dad said that's what you would've wanted..."

She gazed at the photo a little longer.

"I miss you so much, mom. I wish you were here. Tomoyo...we're...not best friends anymore. And, I don't know if I'm living up to what you would have expected from me, I hope I-"

Then the door slammed. And her big brother walked in. "Sakura?"

"Y-you're home early."

"No...you're up late. It's 11:30, don't you have school tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I was just...thinking of mom. What do you think we'd be like if she were still here? I miss her."

"I know. It's hard without her around. And with dad-"

"Can we not talk about it now? I don't really want to think about this type of stuff. This family's pretty broken up, I guess." Sakura said.

"Don't say that. We'll always be a family. No matter what happens."

"I hope so...with you working extra hours and going to college, I don't see you around a lot, not even on weekends. It's so quiet in the house. Like nobody lives here anymore."

"It's what we have to do," Touya said seriously, combing through his black hair with his fingers.

"I know...well, I better be getting to bed. I left some food in the fridge for you."

"Ahh, my wee bit little sister always looking out for her helpless big brother, I never thought it would happen," Touya said laughing, although it sounded hollow. It was obvious he was only trying to lift the morbidity hanging in the air.

"Good night, Touya."

"Good night, Sakura."

* * *

Sakura had gotten ready for bed quickly. She wished she had had homework today, maybe than...she wouldn't have been thinking about mom so much. 

Work kept her busy, homework kept her busy. Any other free time she had, she would always think about her mom, her present. It was like she didn't know how to spend her free time anymore.

She felt something tug at her pant leg. It was Kero, his golden eyes gleaming as he rubbed himself against her and purring loudly.

Sakura smiled kindly at the cat. It was trying to cheer her up. "You are such a great friend, Kero."

She climbed into bed, pulled the covers over her head, and thought about everything in her life.

'Tomoyo...'

The thought came unbidden.

'I'm sorry we're not friends anymore. I suppose it's my fault though. I didn't mean to...well...I just didn't mean it. I hope that someday we may become friends again. Maybe...'

'If you'll just hear me out...I could tell you, but I...I'm afraid that won't happen, because you're too angry with me to even try to listen. I understand. Maybe this friendship just wasn't meant to be. Maybe it was, though. I hope I can tell you, and..."

Sakura yawned, and her eyelids grew heavy. She was so tired, and her eyes felt sore from crying.

'I'm so sorry...'

* * *

AN: Oh jeez, Touya sounded so corny...oh well, that's ok though. I hope you guys liked it. Please review. Pretty please? 


	6. Athletics and Volunteer Work

Summary: AU-She was kind and too forgiving. Everyone picked on her, beat her. She never seemed to hear them, but it was a heavy burden. What happens when she meets Syaoran, a seemingly ordinary bully? Will she forget the past, and move on? S/S

AN: Typing during vacation because I'm bored…I'm glad I finally got the last chapter posted! It was so hard posting it! Sorry it took so long, I had to email this from my dad's lap top…even though it was done before July 6th…eek...Alright...I admit it...I was procrastinating and fawning over how cool Full Metal Alchemist is...and then I started doing a lot of bit torrent stuff so I could watch all the episodes with ENGLISH subs, cuz the dvds I bought in China were chinese subs! Who would've thunk! Anyways, I'm so sorry!

* * *

"talking"

'thinking'

_written/typed_

_flashback

* * *

_

Crystal Dropplets

By Dream4luv

Chapter 6-Athletics and Volunteer Work

* * *

Sakura woke up early, her eyes felt so sore after crying so much the day before. She put on her uniform and went downstairs. It was strange, but, today…she felt as if someone was home. She knew there wasn't.

"I'm probably just tired," she muttered to herself as she pulled on her backpack. She grabbed a slice of bread from the refrigerator and slipped silently out the door.

The walk to school was quiet. It was early, no cars were on the street yet. Was it her turn for cleaning duties…? With…?

* * *

It was surprising seeing the classroom when she got there. She had been so deep in thought. It seemed as though she was walking mechanically, and her legs just carried her there without even thinking.

She glanced about the classroom, then walked to her desk, taking off her backpack.

"You _are_ slow!" a voice came from the chalkboard.

"Oh…Li-kun! I-I didn't see you…g-good morning."

He looked at her for a moment more, and then grunted. "Go grab the stuff from the supply room already! I'm not gonna do this by myself!"

"O-oh, yeah." And the girl rushed off to the supplies room.

Sakura came back quickly with a sponge and some Windex, and started spraying all the classroom windows and wiping them down. "You sure are early," Sakura started nervously.

"Whatever. Look, why don't you just stop trying to make small talk with me. It's not like we're friends or anything." Syaoran said, glaring at her.

Sakura stopped and looked away. She didn't know what to say.

* * *

Soon, students were filing into the classroom, taking their seats and chatting with their friends. Only Sakura was sitting by herself. She was gazing out the window and listening to all the things that her classmates had to say.

The teacher strolled in silently and set all her materials onto her desk. Then she clapped twice to get attention, "Please take your seats. Social time is over."

All the students stopped talking and looked at the teacher.

"Now, I hope you all have come up with schedules for your volunteer work. I wouldn't want anyone to fail your first project. Anyways, today, this class is scheduled for a Physical Education class. The session will be two hours long since it is only once a week. Now, let's begin our math lesson."

* * *

The PE teacher stood before the class and blew his whistle. "Today, we are going to do some running and sports. It will not affect your grade as long as you try your hardest. First, I want everyone to take a lap around the track, I will be timing you. Go!"

A flurry of students rushed forward. And it was the same order around. Nerds and slackers were at the back…walking, normal people in the middle…semi-jogging but stopping every few seconds, jocks basically in front…messing around but still running nonetheless, but the soccer players were always first…jogging really fast. And then there was Eriol and Syaoran in front, racing each other, and Sakura was behind them. It was an even pace she was running, she could go faster, but…

Syaoran stared behind him, that girl…she was behind him and Eriol…? But, surely a loser like that couldn't be so athletic…? They were running really fast, and she was behind them, barely even tired!

He shrugged it off, and concentrated on his race with Eriol. He could see the finish now!

Sakura breathed evenly, and then she saw the finish line, she stopped, and dropped back behind the slowest people to re-tie her shoelaces, even though the bows on them were already perfect. As everyone passed her, she jogged slowly to the finish.

"Good job, Kinomoto, I'm glad you tried your best." The teacher said as he clicked the timer as she finished.

Syaoran narrowed his eyes and then he turned to Eriol, "Wasn't she right behind us? Why did she finish last, the finish line was just a couple of feet away."

Eriol took a drink from the water fountain, "She never wins, she always finishes after everyone else. It's been that way since well…since I can remember. She's always behind the fastest runners, and then when the finish is near, she drops behind, and everyone else finishes before her."

"Oh…"

"Ok, to take a rest, I'll give you fifteen minutes of free basketball time. I am going to assign the groups so everyone can get to know each other. Um…let's see, first, let's have Eriol, Syaoran, Sakura, Meiling, and…Tomoyo. Then, let's have…"

Sakura sighed. It was a group of Tomoyo's friends.

"How about some one on one?" Eriol said. "Kinomoto, you can go against Meiling-chan. Even though we all know who's gonna win."

Meiling grinned. The ball was bounced to Sakura. Sakura went around Meiling and got really close to the basket, and then she stopped and bounced the ball until Meiling caught up, and then Meiling had the ball and she shot it into the basket.

"Ha! I knew I would win!"

"Congratulations." Sakura said, a smile forcing its way on her face and she said with genuine sincerity, "You really are good at sports."

"Hmm, of course I am. Better than you'll ever be! A_ loser_ like you could never possibly beat me!"

* * *

After school, Sakura waited at the fence of the school. She recalled Syaoran telling her to wait for him so they could get to the volunteer hospital.

She heard footsteps behind her.

"Have you been waiting long?"

"Um…n-"

"Well, whatever, I was busy. Let's go."

"Ok…"

The trip was silent, but in the middle of their walk, Syaoran stopped, "Why did you let them beat you?"

Sakura stopped as well, "Let…who…"

"You were running and playing basketball, but right up to the point where you were going to win or finish, you stopped, and they beat you."

Sakura looked down at the cement, but started walking slowly. Syaoran started walking too, "I don't think they like me very much. I think…maybe they'd hate me even more if I beat them in something they thought they could beat me in. Losing is just losing, and winning is winning, I don't think there's much difference between the two. If you think you won, you won. If you think you lost, you lost. It only matters to you, but no one else really cares. So…whether you won or lost is really just what your mind thinks."

Syaoran was quiet, thinking her words over, "Whatever you like to think." He said finally, not fully comprehending what her she meant.

They finally reached the hospital. Syaoran went to the front desk. "We're doing the volunteer project for our school."

The lady looked up from a stack of papers, and pointed to some papers on a clipboard, "Sign in over there. Then, report to the nurse at the station down the hall, she'll give you and your partner the instructions."

Syaoran signed in and told Sakura to follow him to the nurse down the hall.

They found the nurse at the station, "Oh, you two must be here for volunteer work. First, I need you two to put on these uniforms, so we know you're workers, not patients running from shots." The nurse laughed and winked at them.

While the two teens were putting on their uniforms, the nurse smiled at them and asked, "Won't you two tell me your names?"

"Li Syaoran."

"Um…Kinomoto Sakura."

The nurse laughed again, "You know, you two's names go very well with each other…Li Syaoran and Kinomoto Sakura…May I call you two by your first names."

Syaoran frowned at the nurse while Sakura blushed shyly and nodded.

"Ok, well, here's your assignments for now. Sakura-chan, I need you to go to the children's library on this floor and help clean up. There was a little party in there today."

"H-hai!" and the girl rushed off.

"And Li-kun…I need you to…help take out the trash on the thirteenth floor. Afterwards, I need you to go help the nurse in room 511."

"Ok."

The boy walked around a bit, looking for the elevator. The work wasn't hard, but the nurse had assigned him to take out trash on the mental floor. All the people were crazy and they kept asking him incoherent questions.

By the time he had gotten to the fifth floor, he was quite disgruntled. "511…" he muttered to himself. I think _I'm_ going crazy…Oh, here it is."

He knocked on the door and heard a faint "Come in." from inside. He pushed the door open slowly.

The nurse sat beside a patient, holding onto his hand. "Shhh, he's asleep now."

"I heard you needed help." Syaoran said plainly, getting to the point.

"Yes, I have duties on this floor, so I would like to ask you if you would be this patient's personal helper?"

"I-I really don't know what to do…"

"Oh, don't worry, being a volunteer, you don't have to administer any drugs or medications. You just have to help him around and feed him, clean his sheets and simple tasks like that."

"I guess I could…"

"Thank you. All you have to do is wait for him to wake up, then you can bring his dinner up to him, or…whenever you're leaving, just buzz me." She pointed to a little red button. Then she walked out the door, shutting it quietly after her.

Ten minutes passed, and Syaoran sat in the chair with nothing to do. The man was bald but he didn't look too old. He walked over to the door and read a sheet of paper.

_Patient #: F46L509K_

_Date of Check-in: 5/23/02_

_Illness: Cancer_

_Specifications: Leukemia_

_Medication: Chemotherapy_

Syaoran recalled that in a book he had read, when a patient underwent chemotherapy, the side-effects included hair loss or something like that…it had been a book his mom had forced him to read so…the information didn't retain very well. And what was with the stupid patient number? Hospitals always made stuff so confusing, there must be a pattern to the numbers…but he was NOT seeing it. And the random spacing of numbers and letters really didn't help, what was up with the random—

Suddenly, he heard the sheets shift, and he saw the man sit up, and reach for his glasses. Syaoran hurried over and handed them to him.

The man looked at him, confused. "Oh…who are you? Are you lost?"

"No, I'm Li Syaoran, your new volunteer helper. I'll be helping you around and stuff. That's what the nurse said, at least."

"Well, it's nice to meet you Li-san." The man said, smiling kindly. "I have a daughter about your age."

"O-oh?" Ok…so he had a daughter, not like Syaoran actually _cared_, "Um, sir, what should I call you?"

"You can call me Fuji. That's what the nurse calls me, anyways."

"Fuji? As in immortality?"

"I guess." The man's face grew thoughtful. "Hm, I wish my daughter would come by more often. My son always comes, but my daughter doesn't like hospitals very much."

'Ok…so the guy is obsessive about his daughter…'

"Is that so…?"

'Just smile and nod, and pretend you're totally into what he's saying…'

"Someone very close to her died when she was younger in a hospital room, I think that frightened her a little. She doesn't want to see me here."

"If you don't mind me saying," Syaoran said, even though he knew what he was about to say was kind of rude, "but she doesn't seem to care that much about you if she isn't even willing to overcome her fear of hospitals to visit her own father."

The man smiled, "I know she cares about me. She's just not ready to see me. Last time she came, I looked really sick because I had just gone to my chemo session. It really shook her up a bit. But I know she cares because my daughter is just that type of person."

"Is she…?" She sounded like a very considerate person. What would it be like to meet her? Syaoran wondered, and then he remembered, "I have to bring up your dinner!"

Syaoran brought up the food, and he fed it to Fuji-san.

"I'm so embarrassed that I have a teenager feeding me food."

"It's ok…it's what I'm here for."

After dinner, Syaoran told him that he had to go home. He went downstairs thinking about Fuji-san's daughter.

'She must be very popular.'

He pictured her as a girl probably with long blond hair and clear blue eyes…and well, whatever a model looked like. All the guys probably drooled after her. 'Every parent always thinks their own kid is so great, but in reality, they're probably sluts, or bastards, or whatevers…So this chick must be a real bitch.'

He saw the nurse at the station, "Where's Kinomoto, our hours are over for today."

"She's in the children's ward right now."

"And where is that…?"

"Take a right turn, walk straight down the hall until you come to a glass door, and that would be it."

Syaoran ambled slowly down the hall. He could hear Sakura's voice as he got closer to the children's ward.

"…_To make up to the King for her leaving, she gave him a pill that would grant him immortality, eternal life, and Kaguya Hime returned to her palace on the moon. After the departure of Kaguya Hime, the King was very sad, and he cried out, 'What good is the drought of immortality, if I can never be reunited with my beloved Kaguya Hime?' He traveled to the top of a volcanic mountain and threw the pill into the fiery pits of the volcano_." Sakura closed the storybook.

The little girls started chattering about how romantic and sad it was while the little boys said how lame it was and how if they were the King, they definitely would have taken the immortality pill.

"Sakura-san, is that how Mt. Fuji came to be?" a little girl asked.

"Yeah, because the very mountain that the pill of immortality was burned on was Mt. Fuji. Or that is what the legend tells." Sakura smiled at the girl, and then she seemed to notice Syaoran, "Oh, Li-kun. Is it time to go, already…?"

"Ah…yeah." Syaoran looked at Sakura strangely. It was really weird, but when Sakura had been talking to that little girl, something was…different, something that he couldn't exactly explain. It was like she had…changed. He shook his head, that couldn't be possible!

They walked out the hospital together, the sky was beginning to darken. "You can walk home from here can't you, Kinomoto?"

"Yeah."

"Good, than I don't have to hang out with you more than I have to." He said, as he walked away from her.

He heard her footsteps leave, and he looked back at her.

'Fuji-san…'

'Everlasting life…'

Syaoran laughed to himself at the irony, a man with cancer couldn't possibly live up to even the lifespan of the average man, right?

* * *

AN: Ok…very odd (but longer than usual) chapter…It sounds like a pretty pointless chapter…or does it? Ok, now I'm probably just confusing you…Please review! Please please please? 


	7. Helping

Summary: AU-She was kind and too forgiving. Everyone picked on her, beat her. She never seemed to hear them, but it was a heavy burden. What happens when she meets Syaoran, a seemingly ordinary bully? Will she forget the past, and move on? S/S

AN: THIS CHAPTER IS IN TOMOYO'S POV!

* * *

"talking"

'thinking'

_written/typed_

_flashback

* * *

_Crystal Dropplets

By Dream4luv

Chapter 7-Helping

* * *

Oh man, today's gonna be a good day. Friday was so much fun. Ditching.is.fun. And Eriol was so sweet to take me to the local flower garden. It was so cute. I'm glad we're back together.

I walk through my room taking my camcorder and tying my hair up in a ponytail. I pick up my purse, and slip it over my head and slide it to my hip.

"Mom! I'm going shopping with my friends. I might be late for dinner." I call to my mother. It's one of those _rare_ occasions when she's actually home long enough for me to say anything to her.

"Alright sweety! Oh, and when are you going to bring Sakura over again? I haven't seen her for such a long time. Invite her over when you have the time, won't you Tomoyo?" My mother asks with a dreamy look on her face. "I haven't seen her since…my, how many years has it been? I don't even know if how she's doing! Do invite her over!"

"Um, sure, mom. I will. In fact, I've been thinking about her coming over this week!" I lie. I smile cheerfully, "_Actually_, I'm meeting her at the mall right now!"

"Oh, then you two go and have fun!"

"Mmhmm." Ugh, and I thought nothing could ruin my day. I close the door on my way out and get into my car. At least I don't have body guards with me today. Just a day at the mall.

I know my mother. She'd be devastated if she knew I weren't friends with Sakura anymore. She'd probably be even more devastated if she knew we're on two opposite sides, and I'm the one pushing her around. But mom doesn't need to know that.

* * *

As I step into the mall, I see my friends waiting for me at the food court. I even invited Meiling and Syaoran. And of course, Chiharu, Rika, Naoko, and Yamazaki. And Eriol. But that's a given.

"Hey guys!"

"Tomoyo!"

Meiling comes up to me. She looks excited, I wonder why?

"Tomoyo-chan! Are you seriously gonna record our little shopping trip and get it published into a movie, like sold in stores?"

"It's not just today, it's a scrapbook since the beginning of freshman year. And it's only a little movie for the day in the life of a highschooler. I'm trying to get it so I can sell it to some school companies. You know in elementary school and middle school, teachers are always showing you those stupid films about what high school's like, and what you should and shouldn't do? Well, this is more like an unedited version of that. It's just…the truth, I guess. I mean, we even filmed druggies and jocks on steroids. Because that's a part of high school life. It doesn't mean you have to go and be like them, because most likely, watching a movie won't suddenly make someone want to become something they see. They probably already knew what they're gonna act like in high school, and well, it's more of an insightful guideline than a movie." I say, explaining to her what I'm doing.

"But that's still so cool!" Meiling said, "You're so awesome, Tomoyo-chan!"

I laugh a little, "Thanks."

Eriol comes over to me and he slides his arm around my waist and pulls me closer to him, and even though he's done it a million times, my breath still catches, and I feel like blushing. "Of course, Tomoyo can do anything she puts her mind to."

I smile. He really does know how to flatter me. "Oh stop!" I say, laughing and blushing at the same time.

"Well, can we go, or what?" Syaoran interjected, seeming to be in a foul mood for some odd reason. His gaze is looking past us. What-? I turn around, and that…Sakura, she's standing behind us, staring at us for a brief moment before turning away, her face is red. She must be so embarrassed, I mean, eavesdropping on us! The little bi-!

But then, I'm surprised because she looks back at me. I can feel those emerald eyes actually staring, only at me. And she smiles a hesitant smile, and walks over to us, holding something out…for me?

"You dropped this, Daidouji-san." She shows me maybe fifty dollars worth of ten dollar bills. I look at my purse, the zipper's unzipped, and I guess the money must've fallen out. I probably would've thanked any other person who returned my money, but because it's her…I just can't. I can't do that. I glare at her and snatch the bills from her palm, I guess I feel _kind of_ bad for her, I mean, I AM acting like an ungrateful bitch…but I don't think I can act any other way with her. "Don't try to act all cutesy with me, Kinomoto. It's not going to work. Now get away from us, before you spread all your poor germs all over us. The mall is for the people who can actually _afford_ to come here! So get away from us. And don't ever touch my stuff again!"

She stares hard at me for a moment, and her eyes seem angry, but other than her eyes, no emotion shows on her face. And then her eyes soften, and it looks like she's going to cry, "I'm sorry…Tomoyo." I hear her whisper. A silent gasp escapes my mouth. No one else seems to have heard it, they're just staring. Staring at where Sakura was. But by the time I snapped out of my shock, I can already see Sakura hurrying away from the group, her lips curved in a smile as she waved her hand in good-bye to my friends…I wonder, is she waving at me too?

I shrug off my thoughts. "Come on guys, let's go." I say to them as I turn on my camcorder and start recording. I film around at everyone, and then when I get to Syaoran's face, he's still looking at the direction Sakura left. His eyes are glazed, and he seems to be deep in thought, does he actually care about her or something?

* * *

"Did you have a nice time with Sakura, Tomoyo?"

"Oh yeah, I had a blast," I say with mock cheerfulness.

"That's good. I thought you were just keeping Sakura all to yourself, but it's nice to have you talking about her again."

"…I'm really tired mom, I think I'll just skip dinner."

"Honey, are you sick? You feeling ok?"

"Fine mom. I guess I'm just so happy that I'm spending time with Sakura that I can't eat!" I grit my teeth. Can't my mom just get off my case! It's not like she cares about me…anyways…

I hurry upstairs, as soon as I make it to my room, I go crazy, I toss my camcorder onto the couch along with my purse, and then, I jump onto my bed, and I bury my face in the pillows. I'm crying, for the first time in a long time. It felt so good to take my anger out on Sakura…and then…she! Tears stain the silk fabric of the pillowcase and I clench my fists.

I wish the tears would just go away!

I beat my fists against the soft pillows, taking every bottled up feeling I've ever felt and just punching it into the pillows.

Soon, I feel better, but…I'm still confused about what exactly I'm angry at…I never get angry, how could I have just let my self control slip away so easily today? What am I angry at? It's like there's too many bad memories of days of self-pitying for me to remember what all of them are about.

And even so, I have this gut feeling that…all of those days were centered around the same thing and even today too…but what was it? Why can't I pinpoint exactly what's the problem?

'_It's not like she cares about me…anyways…'

* * *

_AN: Whew, it's SO hard to write in Tomoyo's POV! So hard! I'm sorry if the chapter was short and just a little confusing, but her character as I have pictured her is very hard to write into words and actions. PLEASE REVIEW! Hehe, I always have to say that…it's like some addictive catch phrase or something…


	8. Rainy Days

Summary: AU-She was kind and too forgiving. Everyone picked on her, beat her. She never seemed to hear them, but it was a heavy burden. What happens when she meets Syaoran, a seemingly ordinary bully? Will she forget the past, and move on? S/S

AN: Okay, last chapter, I got reviews saying that Tomoyo's kinda bitchy. Well, hmm…yeah, I guess she is, but that's kinda what I was going for. I know in the anime she's one of the sweetest characters. But, people are changing throughout their lives. I mean, _I_ was pretty sweet in elementary school, and now that I'm a teenager, I'm like queen bitch…So, I didn't really mean to OFFEND anyone (if anyone's offended…_not_ saying people got offended), but you know, Sakura's not as fluffy either…so…it's just how the story moves along. Yeah, the whole offended thing, wasn't sarcasm…I really hate it when people think I'm bitterly sarcastic, when I'm really not…

Another thing, I don't really know anything about bank accounts…so I kinda just…made it up…

* * *

"talking"

'thinking'

_written/typed_

_flashback

* * *

_Crystal Dropplets

By Dream4luv

Chapter 8-Rainy Days

* * *

Sakura walked downstairs. It'd been two days since she'd seen Tomoyo at the mall. It was a Monday morning. Sakura couldn't believe how early she'd woken up: 6:30 AM. Saturday she had gone to the mall to take her mind off things. The hospital had brought back a lot of painful memories. And because the shopping district was so close to her house, she had decided to go walk around a while. It was only mindless wandering.

Sakura took a seat at the kitchen table, where she had left Sunday's mail. She picked up a white envelope addressed to the Kinomoto household. It was the hospital bill. Maybe she could pay it now…?

"Touya's been busy. I'll just help him pay it this month." She said to herself. She scanned over the bill and wrote out a check to the hospital. After their dad had gotten sick, Sakura and Touya had started working for money to pay for bills, and Touya had went to the bank to set up an account for both of them. One of those joint accounts. The two of them barely made it through every month.

The extra money was used to buy those TV dinners that could be heated quickly in the microwave. They were cheap. But if both brother and sister were home, they would work together to cook a healthy dinner. They both tried to conserve water and electricity. Sakura would finish her homework before dark, so she wouldn't have to turn on the lights later. It saved a lot on house bills. They had a policy where each would shower for 15 minutes max every other day. That's why Touya biked everywhere, although their father had a car, it was too expensive to pay for gas. Sakura walked or skated everywhere.

It was only 7:00 by the time she was done. Rain started to fall heavily outside. Sakura felt so stifled in the house by herself as she listened to the rain beating against the windows. Maybe she'd go to school a little earlier today.

She wrapped her backpack in her raincoat and looked in the closet for the old umbrella. It wasn't there. "Did it rain last night? Maybe Touya needed it…" she wondered to herself.

Sakura decided it was probably best to skate to school, that way she would be out of the rain faster. She quickly put on her skates, and went outside, locking the door securely behind her.

She started skating at a fast pace but the rain had already formed puddles on the sidewalk. She didn't even notice that she'd run into someone until she hit the asphalt.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't looking at where I was going."

"Sakura-chan?"

"Rika-chan, what are you doing out here in the middle of the rain?" Sakura asked, concerned.

"Oh, um…actually, I was wondering if you needed a ride to school…because, because I knew you would try walking in this weather. You'll catch a cold."

"Well, that's really nice of you, but…what if someone sees?"

"It's ok, no one will be at school this early. My mom's car is parked around the corner. Come on." She offered her hand.

"Well, um…thank you."

"Look at you, you're all wet!"

"I couldn't find the umbrella this morning." Sakura said nervously as she took off her dirty skates and stepping into Rika's car in her socks.

* * *

"Thank you, Rika-chan."

"Don't worry, Sakura-chan, I thought you'd need the ride. But I need to go now…" Rika said as she turned, "I'll see you in class?"

"Yeah." Sakura said.

Her clothes were all soaked. But they'd dry by the time class started.

* * *

The bell rang, and everyone began the usual shoving each other routine. Sakura already sat at her desk. As Syaoran passed her, he elbowed her on purpose as he took the seat behind her.

"Take your seats everyone." The teacher said as she closes the door. "I hope everyone is doing well on their volunteer projects. Remember, there IS a turn in day, so everyone should have already started their projects. Now, onto our math lesson."

After the math lesson, the teacher had given everybody some time to do their math homework. Sakura was so confused about what they were learning. It wasn't exactly her strong point. And everyone else had gotten into some sort of small group. Syaoran, Yamazaki, and Eriol were working together behind her. Their desks were pulled together as they wrote vigorously with their pencils.

She turned around, and said nervously. "Um…I'm sorry to b-bother you Li-kun. But could you help me with these problems? I don't really understand how to do them."

He stared at her for a long time. And then grinned as he came up with an evil plan. "Sure, I'll help you."

He stood up and brought up a chair next to her desk. "Ok here's what you do," he said pointedly. "First you take this value, and you bring it here, and then you take the square root of this number, you put it to the equivalent of this rectangle's side, and then you use this postulate for the proof, and then…" he continued pointing at various numbers in the equation.

"So the answer should be 52?" Sakura asked after taking out a scrap of paper to do her work on.

52 was the right answer, but of course she really didn't need to know that. She would have gotten it wrong by herself anyways. He leaned forward over the problem as Sakura sat up straight to stretch. It felt strange, but he could feel her warm breath on his neck. "Thanks for helping me Li-kun. I really appreciate it." She whispered, and he heard her tone showing her gratitude. It was said so softly that he could barely catch her words.

He sighed and stood up straight, "Yeah, that's right."

He got up and took his seat with Eriol and Yamazaki. They continued with their problems, he looked up at Sakura. "Kinomoto, meet me after school at the front gate. We have to go to the hospital."

It felt strange, but it seemed like he was only speaking so harshly to confirm that he _could_ still speak so harshly to her.

* * *

"You're late, Kinomoto. After school means after the 'LEAVE SCHOOL' bell. You are five minutes late." Syaoran said, staring at Sakura with intense amber eyes from under his umbrella.

"I'm sorry." She apologized quietly. "I really didn't mean to."

"Are you gonna walk to hospital without an umbrella?" he asked, noticing for the first time that she was standing in the rain. It was pouring, and she was getting soaked to the skin.

She smiled a small smile, "I couldn't find it this morning. It's ok though, the hospital's only a ten minute walk from here."

Syaoran gaped, only.ten.minutes? She'd be like a sponge in a bucket full of water.

"You…You can come under here, if you want to. It's pointless to get soaked in the rain when the umbrella's big enough for both of us." Syaoran said stiffly, feeling his face heat up a little, as he turned his head to avoid looking at her. Yep, those puddles on the sidewalk sure looked fascinating.

Sakura's face lit up in a smile as she joined him under the umbrella. "Thank you."

And they started walking down the street through the mist.

* * *

"Please sign in here," the same nurse as before said. "Li-kun, they told me that you're working as a personal assistant now, so you can head up to the room. Sakura-chan…mmm…let's see, where to put you."

The nurse seemed to think about it for awhile before she said, "Ah! You can go up to the newborn's floor. They need some help today." She smiled at Sakura.

Syaoran was already walking up to Fuji-san's room. Maybe he'd be asleep today.

As Syaoran opened the door, he saw Fuji-san sitting in his bed, the covers spread over his legs.

"Li-san!"

"I'm sorry I got here late, Fuji-san. My partner didn't have an umbrella, so we had to share one."

Fuji-san laughed. "Without an umbrella on a rainy day like this? He must be crazy. So how was your day?"

"She, sir."

"Hmm?"

"My partner's a girl."

"Oh, I see, do you like her?"

Syaoran thought about it for a while, "No."

Fuji-san just smiled, "I think you will grow very fond of her in time."

"What do you mean? She definitely isn't the same type of person as me, I don't think I would ever-"

"Well, you know, opposites attract. Maybe you'll see her as someone different one day…after discovering all the good sides that you're missing when you look at her now. You should do that with everyone, taking the time to get to know them." Fuji-san smiled.

Syaoran didn't know why, but he suddenly remembered Sakura as she had gotten under his umbrella, "She looked different today."

Fuji smiled. "Different…?"

"After I asked her to come under the umbrella. I looked at her, and she looked…different. I mean, she was drenched, but there was something different. But I don't really know what it is." Syaoran looked up to see Fuji smiling at him.

"I'm sure you'll figure it out."

* * *

The hours were up, so Syaoran headed downstairs to wait for Sakura. It was still pouring outside. It was dark outside. Lightening could be seen not far from the hospital. And thunder could be heard after it.

Sakura came to downstairs from the newborn floor. She looked really tired.

"Li-kun? You're still here?"

"I have to take you home, don't I? Or are you going to walk in the dark, in the rain…?"

"It's very nice of you to offer, Li-kun. But…my house is far from here, and I'm sure you have a lot of things you'd like to do with your spare time than walk me home. I-I don't want to bother you." She said quietly, staring up at the sky.

Syaoran sighed, "You know, you don't have to question everything I ask you, if I offer, just take the offer."

"Um…Okay. Thank you."

Syaoran rolled his eyes, "This doesn't mean anything, got that?" But he felt like he was saying more to himself then Sakura.

She nodded as he opened his umbrella. And they walked down the street together, through the rain. Each secretly glad that they had the others company on such a stormy night.

* * *

AN: I thought this would be a good place to stop. Although, ORIGINALLY, I was gonna stop after the first umbrella incident. But I didn't think the chapter was long enough. Lol. Review please! 


	9. Fever

Summary: AU-She was kind and too forgiving. Everyone picked on her, beat her. She never seemed to hear them, but it was a heavy burden. What happens when she meets Syaoran, a seemingly ordinary bully? Will she forget the past, and move on? S/S

AN: Hey everyone. It's been superrr busy! So sorry if this chapter's kinda…ick, I mean, I didn't get that much time to think of a good idea for this chapter, but I will try my best. I mean, I DO think of what I'm gonna write during random times in the day…but just sometimes…

* * *

"talking"

'thinking'

_written/typed_

_flashback

* * *

_Crystal Dropplets

By Dream4luv

Chapter 9-Fever

* * *

Sakura sat up in bed as the sharp beeping of her alarm clock woke her from her slumber. It wasn't only that either, she had a bad headache, and it felt oddly chilly in her room. Maybe because she had left her window open last night. It was still raining outside, although the rain was much lighter now. 

As soon as she stood up, she could feel something was wrong. She felt nauseous. She shook the feeling off…she had to get to school, and she couldn't ditch. For one thing, it was her day for cleaning duty today, and she just couldn't miss school because of some passing illness. That would leave her partner all the work, she couldn't do that. Not to mention, if she wasn't there for class, she'd fall behind in her studies. Missing one day of school was a lot of catch up work.

She fumbled her way downstairs in her pajamas and poured herself a glass of cold water. She gulped it down, and it momentarily made her feel a bit better. The water ran down her sore throat, relieving the dryness of the inside of her mouth.

The girl headed slowly back upstairs, accidentally tripping over the last step at the top of the stairs. Picking herself up, she rubbed her hands over her arms trying to keep warm. She proceeded to rub her emerald eyes, trying to rub away the fuzziness from them. She pulled her uniform over her head in a slow lethargic motion. Maybe there'd be medicine in the cabinet? But then again…no one in her family had been sick since well…a long time ago.

She pulled open the cabinet, finding an assortment of vitamin and calcium bottles. All of them were out dated. She dug through the cabinet trying to find a bottle of cold pills, but there were none.

"I'm sure my immune system can fight it off," she assured herself quietly, "I'll go buy some after volunteering, if I can find the money to…"

She pulled on her skates and backpack, remembering to stuff a bottle of water into her pack. She gently closed the door behind her, and started skating through the light rain at a slow pace. Even so, she had managed to trip over many bumps and cracks in the sidewalks. She saw Rika's car up ahead of her, for some strange reason.

"Sakura-chan?"

"Rika-chan, what are you doing here?" Sakura asked lightly, squinting her eyes to see the girl.

"It's raining. I thought, that…um, you might need a ride again?"

"What? I'm sorry Rika-chan, I guess I just blanked out for a minute." Sakura said rubbing her eyes.

"Sakura-chan? Are you ok? You don't look to well."

"O-oh, no. I'm fine, just a little tired." Sakura said offering a smile.

"Well, come on, I'll take you to school." Rika smiled as well.

Sakura climbed into Rika's car in the same fashion as the day before, removing her wet skates. "You don't do this have to, you know." Sakura said struggling to say what she wanted, but her headache was ringing through her brain, and she couldn't think straight.

"What?"

"Sorry. I-I guess I'm a little off today." Sakura mumbled quietly.

* * *

As soon as Sakura got off of Rika's car, she felt sick to her stomach. She walked quickly to the girl's restroom, set her backpack down and ran into one of the stalls. She threw up in one of the toilets, choking and coughing. Just as she flushed the toilet and walked out of the stall, Tomoyo's group walked in.

"Well well, look who it is. Kinomoto." Tomoyo said.

"G-good morning, Daidouji-san." Sakura greeted, her face pale.

"Whatever. The bell's going to ring soon. We don't have time for you today." Tomoyo said roughly knocking into Sakura as she walked past her. All her friends followed suit as they pushed past the girl, bumping her on the shoulder, some going far enough to elbow her in the stomach.

As Sakura left quietly, Tomoyo's friends missed the look of worry that passed over her face. 'Maybe I shouldn't have done that, she looked sick. Really sick.' Tomoyo looked back to her reflection with shame and guilt. How could she have done that? Why did she do it?

* * *

Sakura moved slowly to the classroom. Cleaning duty. She had already taken all the cleaning supplies from the storage room. As she walked in the room, she saw Eriol standing in front of the chalkboard, almost done wiping it off. 

"You're late," he said simply without turning to look at her.

"Um, I'm really sorry. I didn't-" Sakura started.

"It's ok, you know. To be late, I mean. Everyone's late all the time. No one really cares." Eriol continued still wiping at the board.

"Well, still, it isn't bad being on time." Sakura said slowly as a sharp piercing feeling shot through her head.

"Whatever you want." The boy said, shrugging his shoulders.

* * *

"Then, we will continue our math lesson by talking about functions, and how to graph them, how to tell if they are functions, how to tell if they're even or odd, or neither..." The teacher said, reading and flipping through the pages of her math book.

Sakura closed her eyes, she didn't want to, but it felt necessary. Her eyelids felt so heavy, and it felt like everything that she normally didn't notice was occurring all at the same time. She could hear the rustle of papers from the girl next to her, and she could hear the boy two rows away from her yawn loudly. She could make out the noises of the chairs scraping against the floor in the back of the room. It was all giving her an extreme feeling of nausea.

She could hear Syaoran behind her whispering to the boy behind him about something or other. He tapped her on the shoulder.

She turned around at him and gave him an unfocused smile.

"Don't be late today." He said, giving her a frown.

"I won't." the girl promised, although she wasn't too sure. She wasn't even sure what Syaoran was talking about.

"You better be telling the truth, Kinomoto. Make a promise, keep a promise." He whispered harshly at her.

"I'll be sure to make it." Sakura said, staring fuzzily up into his amber eyes.

"Lunch will be in 10 minutes, so you have the remainder of the period to do your homework." The teacher said as she closed her math book.

* * *

School was out, and Sakura had run as fast as she could to her locker, then proceeded out of the school to the front gate where Syaoran was standing.

"I'm not late am I?" She managed to choke out between coughs and heaving.

"No." he answered simply. "You forgot your umbrella again?"

It was more of a statement really.

"It's not raining too hard today," Sakura answered meekly…she didn't want to tell him that she couldn't afford to buy an umbrella.

"Whatever." He said stiffly, but was too embarrassed to ask her if she wanted to come join him under his umbrella like the day before.

"U-um, Li-kun?" Sakura started, unsure of how to ask him. She stared at him shifting uncomfortably. It was like one of those moments that one of your acquaintances have that oh so delectable looking bag of Skittles in their hands, but don't offer you any, so you have to ask (and hope your not intruding on their candy) for some. "L-look, I know you don't think of me as a friend or anything like that…but, umm…would you mind if I shared your umbrella?"

"Do what you want." Syaoran said equally uncomfortable.

"This means a lot. I mean, you probably don't care, but still…Thank you." She said quietly looking him in the eyes, knowing it was respectful to do so.

* * *

After getting to the hospital, they checked in with the nurse again. The happy go lucky nurse directed them to where they needed to go. Obviously, Syaoran went upstairs to Fuji's room. Sakura was assigned to some easy organizing duties in the lobby: stack magazines, rearrange books, water the plants…things like that. She worked slowly and without energy. Her headache was only making it worse, but still. She needed to focus on the task at hand and give it her best.

And this was definitely not what she'd call her best.

She picked up one of the magazines on the table and walked over to the magazine shelf. She glanced down at the title of the magazine, and looked up to see where its proper place was. Then she realized, that for some strange reason, she hadn't actually looked at the title, maybe she had merely skimmed over the cover? She looked down again at the magazine in her hands, and frowned slightly when she couldn't read it. The letters fuzzed up and her body felt heavy, as her mind clouded over.

She didn't even feel it when she hit the floor.

* * *

Syaoran said good night to Fuji-san and stuck his hands in his pockets as he walked down stairs. His feet echoed down the tiled steps as he made his way to the lobby. 

'I guess I have to walk Kinomoto home again.' He thought to himself. It was more of a fact in his mind than an annoyance. He sat on one of the soft seats in the lobby, waiting for Sakura to finish doing whatever she was doing.

He waited…and waited. 15 minutes passed, than half an hour, and she still hadn't come. He rolled his eyes. He walked quickly to the front desk, and found the nurse in charge of all the volunteers. She apparently had just started her shift since she hadn't started doing anything yet.

"Where's Kinomoto working today?"

The nurse checked her list as her eyes passed over all the names arranged in alphabetical order, "Sakura-chan is supposed to be working in the lobby. Isn't she there?"

"No."

"Well, hmm…lemme just go check real quick, stay here, ok?" The nurse said as she smiled gently at Syaoran. She wrote some information a sheet of paper as she ran down the hall.

"Like I have anywhere else to go."

The nurse returned in just a few minutes, and took her seat at the front desk. "I'm sorry Li-kun. Apparently Sakura-chan has a fever, and she's in one of the hospital rooms right now. She'll probably have to stay overnight because her fever's pretty bad, about 104.7, we don't want her leaving. She hasn't taken any medication so we're assuming that's the reason her condition's so bad."

"But she looked fine today!" Syaoran argued, not really knowing the reason why. If someone was sick, they're sick, you don't argue about it.

"Are you sure? Maybe you weren't paying attention, she looked a little out of it when she came in, but she acted fine, I really didn't assume anything."

"Well, what do you want me to do?" Syaoran said expecting the nurse to ask him to help with something or other.

"Oh…well, you can just go home. You don't have to stay here. I'm sure you're busy with homework and such." The nurse waved lightly at the exit. "It's not like you're obligated stay. Sakura-chan will definitely not be showing up anytime soon. She's probably going to miss school tomorrow."

Syaoran looked at the nurse for a brief second before he walked out the doors. As soon as he stepped outside, his stomach churned, and he felt a little guilty for leaving his partner behind. But whatever, right? She's the one who got herself sick. Not him. He opened his umbrella and began walking to the right, before he realized that he didn't live in that direction. Syaoran berated himself for making such a stupid mistake before turning around and walking home.

* * *

AN: Hahaha…I really AM going to update on the 5th! Yay! I didn't think it was possible, but I did it! 


	10. Sharpen the Saw

Summary: AU-She was kind and too forgiving. Everyone picked on her, beat her. She never seemed to hear them, but it was a heavy burden. What happens when she meets Syaoran, a seemingly ordinary bully? Will she forget the past, and move on? S/S

AN: I haven't done point of views in a long time, hmm…? This will be in **Sakura's POV!

* * *

**

"talking"

'thinking'

_written/typed_

_flashback

* * *

_Crystal Dropplets

By Dream4luv

Chapter 10-Sharpen the Saw

* * *

I sit up in bed gasping and shaking, and I don't recognize where I am. The last thing I remember was… 

I can't really remember much of what happened the day before. Syaoran and I, we walked to the hospital, and then…the nurse gave me an assignment to work in the lobby.

I try to recall what had happened afterwards, but everything seems fuzzy.

"Oh, Sakura-chan! You're awake."

It's the nurse. Why is she? I take a closer look around the room and realize that it looks like a hospital bedroom for overnight stays. The room is white, a TV sits on a white table in the corner, and the bed sheets are white as well.

"I hope you don't find me rude asking this," I start, feeling embarrassed, "But what am I doing here? The last thing I remember was working in…the lobby…and after that…"

"Sakura-chan. You gave us all quite a scare last night. I went to the lobby to check on how you were doing, and I found you on the floor unconscious. We took you up to one of the guest rooms, and it seems you had a pretty high fever. We gave you some medicine and we let you rest here." The nurse explains to me. "Did you take any medication yesterday? You knew you were sick; you didn't have to come here. You could've taken a day off and just rested in bed. You would have gotten better sooner."

"I don't think Li-kun would've been too pleased with me." I reply weakly. "He wants me to show up. I don't want to disappoint anyone. And I have to get to school to keep my grades up. If I had missed yesterday, the lessons would have been confusing. And then…if my grade point average goes down, I might not be able to keep my job."

The nurse smiles at me. "Sakura-chan. I know you are a hard worker. But it's ok to just take a break once in a while, it wouldn't hurt, you know? In fact, it's one of the 7 habits for highly effective teens. Have you ever heard of Sharpening the saw?"

She takes a seat next to me with a thoughtful face.

I shake my head no to her question.

"Can I tell you a story?"

"Sure." I say politely.

The woman's face looks passive as she recalls the story, "One day, a young boy met a logger who was furiously sawing a tree. And the boy asks 'How long have you been at it, mister?' and the logger replies 'four hours so far, but I'm really making progress' the boy proceeds to say 'your saw looks pretty dull. Why don't you take a break to sharpen it?' and the logger replies gruffly 'I can't. I'm too busy sawing here. Why don't you run along…' But if the logger took a 15 minute break to sharpen his saw, he'd probably finish three times faster."

"I-I don't think I understand." I say.

"You see, Sakura-chan. You are sick, right? But you insist on going to school. Which means that you'll be sick longer. But if you take a day off to restore your energy, you'll be better the next day, and you'll be more prepared for school. Understand?"

I do understand. And I understand that she is trying to help me, but…I also know that I cannot miss a single day in my life. "Miss? Could you please tell me what day today is?"

"Don't worry honey, you've only slept for a night. It's Wednesday."

The thought hits me. I have school today! I can't miss school. Although I admit it would be nice taking a break; it would be nice avoiding Tomoyo and her friends, but, just those reasons aren't enough to keep me away from my responsibilities and obligation.

"I'm sorry, I have to go." I say panicking, "I-I'm late for school, and I have work after school…and I just need to go. I'm sorry I stayed here overnight. I didn't mean to cause any trouble. But I promise I'll pay the bill for my stay."

"Sweetie. Calm down. We're not charging you for your stay. The hospital knows how hard you and your brother are working. We don't want to add any pressure. So!" the nurse the claps her hands together happily. "You're not going anywhere today. We are going to make sure you get better. Understand?"

"But my homework…and my job. If I don't go, I won't have enough money for this month. Besides…" I say lowering my voice, "I wouldn't want to trouble the hospital about this issue. It wouldn't be fair if I didn't pay the bill."

"It is fair." The nurse says silently, looking at me, "You may not know it, but you and your brother's story have touched many of the nurses' and doctors' hearts. So just take a day off to sharpen the saw, okay?"

The nurse smiles at me and she leaves the room, leaving me to think about what she just said. Do people really care so much about our story? How could they…this is how normal people deal with their problems. Isn't this how normal people dealt with their problems?

My thoughts are interrupted by a light knocking on the door.

"Come in." I say quietly. I didn't expect a visitor.

As the door opens, I see it's my brother. "Touya? What are you doing here? Don't you have school? You shouldn't be skipping school to see me."

"Sakura, why didn't you just tell me you were sick? The hospital called last night, and when I didn't see your stuff by the door, I got worried. You should have just stayed home." My brother admonishes.

"I-I didn't realize it was so serious." I explain.

"Sakura, you have to stay healthy, okay? I don't want you to get hurt." He says, "I really got scared last night. I don't want anything to happen to you. You're my only sister, after all. You're all I've got."

The last part seems forced. Touya normally wouldn't say something like that. He must have been worried sick last night. I feel a little guilty for getting sick.

"You're all I've got too." I mutter quietly as my bangs droop in front of my eyes.

"Look, Sakura. I'm not mad at you or anything."

"I know…it's just that I, I," my voice comes out shaky, and my throat feels constricted, and for some reason, I feel tears sliding down my cheeks, "I didn't mean to get sick. I didn't want to worry you. I didn't mean to worry you last night either. I didn't know what to do. And I didn't want to duck out of my responsibilities. I-I didn't want to let you down. I'm sorry. I'm so stupid. I wanted to handle things as well as you handle them because you're working so much harder than me, but still, I'm the one that got sick. I'm the one who needs the attention. I really really didn't mean to worry you, and I didn't mean to end up in the hospital. And…I'm just sorry…for letting you down. I'm sorry."

By now, my tears are pouring down my face, and my sobbing is uncontrollable. I want to stop crying. I don't want my brother to see me like this…but I just can't seem to stop. It's like everything up to this day has built up too far, and everything has come toppling down.

"Calm down, Sakura. What makes you think I handle this well? I don't…I'm the one letting you down. I'm supposed to take care of you, not the other way around. And I failed. I'm not a very good big brother, am I?"

I shake my head furiously. I want him to stop saying that. "No, you're not a bad big brother. Don't say that!"

"Then just relax Sakura. It'll end up okay." He ruffles my hair lightly. "I have to go now, don't push yourself too hard. I'll see you."

"Bye."

The door closes.

I look out the window, and I wonder what Li-kun, Tomoyo, and Rika-chan are doing.

* * *

AN: That's it this chapter. I know…I was upset that Syaoran wasn't in it either. 


	11. Visits

Summary: AU-She was kind and too forgiving. Everyone picked on her, beat her. She never seemed to hear them, but it was a heavy burden. What happens when she meets Syaoran, a seemingly ordinary bully? Will she forget the past, and move on? S/S

AN: I'm writing this at 10:23 PM on the 15th. Let's see where that takes me…ne? Sorry for not updating on time. My friend's been going through troubled times since…Monday night. I want to be there for her. Not neglect her to write a story that isn't as important as she is. Sorry everyone.

Oh, but I DO want to thank everyone for reviewing, it makes me feel so happy and fluffy inside, even if I don't give individual thanks. I do appreciate them.

* * *

"talking"

'thinking'

_written/typed_

_flashback

* * *

_

Crystal Dropplets

By Dream4luv

Chapter 11-Visits

* * *

Syaoran couldn't keep himself from glancing at the desk in front of him. He was distracted. Before he left for lunch, he had seen the teacher marking Sakura absent and muttering angrily about her ditching class.

For a moment, Syaoran had considered telling her that Sakura was sick and in the hospital. But he decided it was best not to. During lunch, Tomoyo hadn't mentioned her latest plans about ruining Sakura Kinomoto's life. In fact, she seemed troubled about something. Then again, Syaoran wouldn't know. He wasn't too observant when it came to feelings.

It was only a few more minutes until school got out. Then he could go home and take his mind off all that was happening.

* * *

As the bell rang, everyone ran out of the room in a rush. Syaoran left slowly, on his way out, he ran into a tall young man with messy black hair and a sharp angular face. The man ignored the fact that he had run into him and pushed past him.

Syaoran rolled his eyes.

"Sorry, Dahiki-san?" The man said, as he spoke hurriedly, "My sister, Kinomoto Sakura couldn't make it today to school because she was really sick-"

The teacher, being annoyed that this handsome young man was actually related to such a clutz like Sakura, frowned, "That's no excuse to skip school." She cut in rudely.

The young man got angry as his brow furrowed. "Look, ma'am." He said quite forcefully. "My sister is sick. And she only landed in the hospital because she didn't take a day off from school to rest, or else she'd be fine! And she's not a slacker. You play her off as some bad student, but she works harder than all of the stupid teenagers in this fucking school! Look here, our family's on a tight budget, and she works to help pay the bill. She refused to buy medicine when she was sick. What more are you asking for!" The man's fist connected with her desk as she looked at him in astonishment, feeling quite guilty for accusing her of skipping and picking on her.

"Look, Kinomoto-san, there's no need to be angry." She reasoned. "I'll send her partner in her volunteer group to the hospital to give her the homework tomorrow. That is if she won't be returning by tomorrow."

"Don't you forget, Dahiki-san, she is a good student." The man straightened himself a bit, regaining his composure as he stomped out of the room.

Syaoran listened to the whole conversation. So Sakura worked to pay the bills……not to buy clothes and fashion accessories as he had harshly assumed about a week ago? The guilt tore at his guts, knowing that he had accused her unfairly without knowing anything about her life. He knew what he wanted to do.

* * *

"Why, Li-kun, I didn't expect you to be here." The nurse at the front desk said as she saw Syaoran approaching the counter.

"Well, since my partner's sick, I decided to come and make up her time." Syaoran shrugged. It wasn't really why he was there, but good enough excuse, right?

"You realize that you're still expected in room 511?"

"Yeah, I know. Oh, and…uh…" Syaoran looked away, "Do you know which room Kinomoto's in?"

"Yes, she should be on the last floor in room 614. Are you visiting?"

"Who wants to know?" Syaoran shot back.

"The hospital needs to record every visit to a patient's room. It's hospital policy, no log, no visitor's pass to get in the room."

"But, shouldn't I be counted as an employee since I work here?" he asked, getting annoyed at all the stupid rules.

"Not really. As soon as all your hours are done, you'll be out of here like lightning." The nurse responded evenly.

"Fine. I am visiting her. Don't I have a right to know when she'll be out of here?"

"Of course." The nurse smiled kindly as if she implied something more. Syaoran quirked an eyebrow at her as if asking her what she was smiling about. She giggled lightly at his silent inquiry and signed him on the log and the volunteer list. She took out a visitor's pass from her drawer and passed it to him with a smile.

Syaoran passed quietly up the stairs, heading to the familiar room. He then changed his mind about it and decided to go see Sakura first. He walked up another flight of stairs up to the overnight stay ward. He strolled down the familiar looking passage ways and glanced at the numbers on each door until he reached 614. He showed his visitor's card to the nurse on hall duty. She nodded her consent and he twisted Sakura's door open enough to look inside.

The bed was empty.

But Syaoran was surprised to see someone else occupying the chair next to the bed "Daidouji?"

"Li-kun? What are you doing here today? I thought you didn't come here on Wednesdays?"

"I don't." I respond simply. "But, it's not like I have assigned times or anything. I can come work when I have the time. What brings you here?"

"Well…I don't know. I guess you could call it a gut feeling. Somehow, it felt like something bad happened, to Sakura-chan."

It took Syaoran by surprise that Tomoyo had called Sakura by first name. She never did that. "I thought you didn't care? Don't you enjoy torturing her, anyways?"

"You may not know it, but Sakura and I go way back elementary school. We used to be best friends, actually. But then…we got into a fight at the beginning of sixth grade. It was one of those silent fights that consist of not talking to each other. I held the grudge for a long time. And I guess it was me who started the fight." Tomoyo smile twisted on her lips as she frowned. "I don't know. But after that, I held her responsible for all the bad things that happened. And when I started to become more popular for joining clubs and making other friends, I got angry at her. And because I had the power to do it, I turned all the people I knew against her. It was wrong. I know it was. But, I did it anyway."

Tomoyo sighed. "Yesterday, in the bathroom, she didn't look to good, but I pushed everyone against her anyway. I didn't think too much about it until today, when I didn't see her."

"I came to see her too." Syaoran admitted. "She passed out yesterday from a fever when we came here."

"Are you worried for her?"

"Ye-wait, what! Of course I'm not worried, s-stupid!" Syaoran spluttered.

"Why are you here?" Tomoyo asked.

"I don't know." It was the guilt. He felt guilty for assuming things. Bad things that were probably completely opposite from what she stood for. And naturally, he was worried about her. But he'd rather eat dirt then admit it. "But. I'm not going to wait around here especially since I don't know when she'll be in. I'm going downstairs. I'll be in 511 if you need me."

Syaoran turned to leave, but Tomoyo caught up with him, "No, I'll go with you."

The two left together descending the flight of stairs before reaching Fuji's room. Syaoran was just about to push the door open, when he heard Sakura's voice.

'What is _she_ doing here?'

He pushed his ear next to the door.

* * *

"U-um. Dad? It's me. Sakura." Sakura said nervously as she spoke to the sleeping man in front of her. She clasped her hands tightly as they lay in her lap. "I-I know you're probably angry at me for not visiting…no. You probably hate me for not visiting. You think I'm a bad person. A-and I am. I'm a bad person. I wanted to visit, but I got scared. And I don't know why. But I thought that…that if I visited you, something bad would happen, and I didn't want anything bad to happen."

She was crying.

"Sakura-san? I wasn't expecting you today." Her father said lightly as he opened his eyes and sat up in bed. "What are the tears for?"

Sakura looked up shakily to her dad, "B-because I let you down. I'm sorry."

"Sakura-san. You don't let me down. I am very proud of you. I know you work hard at school. Touya always tells me how busy you are."

"Not busy enough to have a reason to not visit." Sakura said quietly, looking ashamed of herself. "I didn't mean to do it. I'm sorry."

"I know you are, Sakura-san. It's ok. I forgive you."

"Really?"

"Really."

Sakura sniffled a bit and gave him a watery smile. But there was still a nervous and awkward tension in the air. Sakura didn't know what to say and her dad seem to either.

* * *

Tomoyo and Syaoran's ears were pressed firmly against the door.

Syaoran's mind was jumbled. Fuji was Sakura's…dad? But hadn't Fuji-san been hospitalized three years ago? But he was sure she had called him her dad…Was she living with just her mother and brother? Ok…well, now he felt REALLY guilty. For one thing, staying in the hospital must have cost her family a fortune. Her dad was always sick, and her mom was probably working all the time to earn the money for the bills.

"…_Look here, our family's on a tight budget, and she works to help pay the bill. She refused to buy medicine when she was sick."_ Her brother's words rang in his head. He unconsciously gripped the door handle tightly as he made the connection.

Tomoyo's heart pounded. Sakura…She hadn't known about her father being hospitalized! How long had this gone on without her knowing…? She pressed her ear harder against the door, straining to hear more of the conversation. She knew it was eavesdropping, but she wanted, needed, to know.

Suddenly the door flew forward as she realized that Syaoran had twisted the handle enough for her weight to push it open. She fell into the room on her stomach as Syaoran tripped in after her with no more grace than she had.

"Li-kun! D-Daidouji-san?" Sakura asked, surprised by the interruption.

Syaoran expected her to get angry. After all, it was obvious that they had listened in on quite a personal conversation. But she didn't.

She gave them a pleasant smile and asked, "Li-kun, Daidouji-san, what are you two doing here?"

Tears fell down Tomoyo's face as she looked at Sakura's passive and accepting features. She was too forgiving. She wanted Sakura to hate her. Because of what she had done to her…without listening to Sakura's side of the story. She wanted Sakura to get angry or scream her about what a horrible friend she had been. She wanted her to yell and tell her that she would never forgive her. But inside her heart, Tomoyo knew Sakura wouldn't do that because she had always been like that. It made her sob even harder as she stood up meekly from the ground, her hands hanging lifelessly at her sides. She looked at Sakura as droplets fell from her pale porcelain cheeks. And suddenly, she burst into hysterics as she ran and hugged Sakura tightly.

"Sakura-chan, I-I'm sorry. I-" Tomoyo couldn't finish what she wanted to say as her body shook with sobs.

Sakura stiffened for a moment, not in contempt and loathing, but merely from surprise. As she realized what had happened, Sakura put her arms around Tomoyo's shaking shoulders and smiled, "It's ok, Tomoyo-chan. It's ok. I forgive you."

During this whole exchange, Syaoran looked at Sakura in awe. How could she forgive people so easily? How could she allow someone who had been so cruel to her, who played on her feelings, how could she forgive them?

It was a mystery to him.

And he smiled.

Because there was one thing he knew for sure. Only Sakura Kinomoto could be like that.

* * *

AN: Done! Finally! Please review! Pretty please with sugar on top? 


	12. Reconciliation

Summary: AU-She was kind and too forgiving. Everyone picked on her, beat her. She never seemed to hear them, but it was a heavy burden. What happens when she meets Syaoran, a seemingly ordinary bully? Will she forget the past, and move on? S/S

AN: I've been quite quite busy, and haven't a minute to spare for myself. Finals are coming up in a month or so, I am STRESSED OUT! Ok, in case you're confused, this chapter occurs on a Friday night, I hate skipping days, but it was only like…2…so, I'm sure everyone will be fine. Plus, even though the first part of the chapter is long enough to stand alone, I felt bad for not having Syaoran in it AGAIN, so I'll kind of add the next part to it too.

And please, again, in case some people failed to notice, please don't flame! It's like spam and pop-ups. It's annoying, and I'll most likely block you or delete the review. I mean, thoughtful comments are welcome, but this:

"Wuh Da Fuq Is Dis Crap? This Story Sucs Bigg Time Especially When It Is Written By Someone Like You! No Wonder You Hardly Ever Update! Haha! Suckas!"

That is a big no no. I mean, this person could've spent a few modest minutes reading some fanfiction they liked. It's not like I'm forcing you to read it…ok, anywho! Well, everyone, that's all for now!

* * *

"talking" 

'thinking'

_written/typed_

_flashback

* * *

_

Crystal Dropplets

By Dream4luv

Chapter 12-Reconciliation

* * *

Sakura had gotten out of the hospital by Friday morning. The nurse had made sure she would get better if she took her pills twice a day. Not only that, she had also sent Sakura home with an extra bottle, just in case. 

After the incident, Tomoyo had gone by the hospital everyday to visit her. And they had agreed that the weekend she was released, they'd have a sleepover to catch up on old times.

Tomoyo had also (somehow) convinced Sakura to go to a party with her. Everyone would be there she had said, and it would be a good chance for Sakura to get to know everyone and make her "new" mark on the world.

* * *

"Ahh! Sakura! I haven't seen you in years! You've grown into such a beautiful teenager!" Tomoyo's mother exclaimed in excitement. "I kept telling Tomoyo to bring you over sometime, and then…well, I knew it would happen!" 

Sakura blushed and smiled shyly, "Well, um, thanks Daidouji-san, it's nice to see you too. And you still look wonderful."

"Ah, well, if you need me, you know where to find me!" she said to Tomoyo and Sakura taking a seat on the couch.

"We'll be in my room, so if _you _to find _us_, if you get called on emergency or something…" Tomoyo informed her mom while leading Sakura upstairs.

"Your house hasn't changed much." Sakura noted quietly.

"Well, we added a west wing with 10 guest bedrooms." Tomoyo said laughing. "Come on, Sakura-chan, you don't have to be shy around me. I know we've just got to talking a little these few days, but it can be like old times. You used to run around the house screaming your head off, well, at least when my mom wasn't here. There's no need to change that."

"I'm sorry, I just haven't been around you for such a long time. It'll take some getting used to." Sakura said, offering her best friend a smile.

"I know. And I'm sorry that I pushed you around. I drove everybody away from you. I guess you're still not used to people in general..." Tomoyo remarked slightly, grimacing at her own past actions.

"You still know me as well as you used to." Sakura said casually.

"No, I don't think I knew you that well…or else we wouldn't have had that fight. I hate thinking about it." Tomoyo sighed as she shuddered.

"We don't have to talk about it. You can help me with my homework, and then we'll have the whole night to ourselves." She offered.

"Ok." Tomoyo seemed to cheer up as they made the rest of the way to her room.

* * *

"Wow, I never knew I could get done with homework so quickly with your help!" Sakura said stretching her limbs as she got up from the table. It had been about two hours and both girls were done with all their nasty schoolwork. It seemed like Sakura had gotten used to having Tomoyo next to her, just like when they were little. It seemed so natural to have her there. 

"I guess it comes to me by itself. I like to have time for everything else." Tomoyo shrugged, "But I'm glad I can help, somehow. So what do you want to do now?"

"Why don't you pick?"

Tomoyo looked thoughtful for a moment. "Well…there HAS been something I've been meaning to do for a while."

Sakura looked at her friend inquisitively. "What?"

"These!" Tomoyo squealed as she held up a box set of 5 DVDs or so.

"What are those?"

"Movies! Of you! Remember when I was little and I used to take that video camera everywhere with me? I transferred all the stuff I recorded onto discs and then I wanted to watch them with you. But we never got to, and I haven't touched them since. So, what do you say?"

"Well…I'd say it's too embarrassing, but you're going to make me watch it anyways." Sakura said sighing. "You always knew what you wanted to do, huh?"

"Well, I DID love my video camera." Tomoyo agreed as she stuck the first disc into her DVD player.

"So, how are you doing with that?"

"Well, I got offered a contract in filming one of those high school videos that the administration shows to middle school students, you know, so they know what high school life is like."

"Everyone's got to start somewhere." Sakura said.

"Oh wait! Watch, it's starting." Tomoyo said excitedly, tapping her friend on the shoulder.

* * *

By the time the videos had ended, night had fallen, and it was time for bed. Tomoyo slipped into her sleeping bag next to Sakura. 

"Ok, talk time, Sakura."

She could hear Sakura sigh next to her. "Yeah, talk time."

"When did we have the fight?" Tomoyo asked as she turned off the lamp light, leaving the room in still darkness.

"I don't know, in the middle of fourth grade year? Is that when we started having problems?"

"Yeah, it was then. I remember. That was the day I had invited you over so I could film you in my first hand made costume. And it was your birthday, and I wanted to surprise you. But I knew you and your mom were spending the day together so I invited your whole family over at 8:00 so we could all get together and see you in costume. At 7:30, I got everything ready, and I was so, so excited to see you. I couldn't wait. But then, an hour passed, and it was 8:30, and you still hadn't come. And I told myself not to cry because I knew you wouldn't let me down. Before I knew it, it was 10:00, and my mom was tucking me into bed. I was crying and angry. I kept thinking to myself that you could've at least called to tell me you weren't coming. I had balloons all over the place, and I had bought your favorite kind of ice cream cake. But you never came."

"I'm sorry," Sakura's whisper was heard in the dark room. "I didn't know how much trouble you went through for me."

"No, it wasn't your fault. It was mine. Because the next day, I was so angry at you for forgetting and not calling. I just left you on the playground by yourself. But then I realized how silly the fight was. And you apologized, and everything seemed ok. But in the middle of that year, we stopped hanging out after school. I thought you had a new best friend. I didn't know why you kept disappearing, and forgetting to call. You were distant at school and hardly ever talked to me. I thought that if you could find new friends, I could find new ones too."

"I know. And I-I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to. I was visiting at the hospital everyday. And when I came home, I was so tired and scared and upset to call you. I didn't want you to know about it because I thought you'd think I was a freak, since my mom was in the hospital…" Sakura trailed off as she gazed out an open window at the moon.

"Wait, your MOM was in the hospital!" Tomoyo asked. Why hadn't she known? Why hadn't she known that Sakura's mom had been sick too? She felt so horrible for getting mad at Sakura. She berated herself. She was so stupid. How could she accuse Sakura without a reason? Without _trying_ to find a reason?

"Yeah, my mom died when I turned nine. She was in the hospital for a long time. Like she was in a coma or something. That day, on my eighth birthday, when you invited me over, she was in an accident, she fell down our attic stairs…and well, we took her to the hospital, and she seemed fine in a few days. But then she forgot stuff. She forgot about me, and…Touya, and dad. She couldn't remember who we were. So we took her to the hospital again. The doctors said that she was losing her memory and ability to function. Something was wrong with her brain and it triggered her to lose her memory of everything spontaneously. They said there was no treatment for her. We asked neurologists and brain surgeons, but they all said it was untreatable. So they kept her in the hospital for a year, and by the end, she couldn't do anything, and we pulled the plug on her." Sakura said, remembering all of it. It triggered tears and she cried silently, burying her face in the pillow. She knew Tomoyo couldn't see her, but she would be able to hear her.

"Sakura. Don't cry, I'm sorry. None of it was your fault. And I'm sorry I didn't know. And because I didn't, I ditched your mom's funeral. I said that I didn't want to have anything to do with the Kinomoto's because I was so angry. I remember it was summer and I had thrown a fit to get away from going. I guess I didn't understand then." Tomoyo could feel her own voice catch in her throat as she admitted all the horrible things she had done, "I didn't know why we were going to your house, I didn't know it was for your mom!" she said desperately

"T-Tomoyo, don't cry. It's not your fault either. And I'm not blaming you. I could hardly understand it myself." Sakura cried, holding her friends shoulder and hugging her tightly.

"But I didn't go! Sakura, up until now, I always thought you had the perfect family. That your dad was wonderful and your mom cared and loved you. I never knew that they…that both of them…"

"It's ok, Tomoyo. No one expected you to know. I didn't tell you and your mom thought you were too young to know. To know what seeing death was like." Sakura said, still sniffling as she held onto her friend's hand.

"I wanted to know. I wanted to be there with you. If you had to see it, I wanted to be there for you, and then maybe things wouldn't have been so bad." Tomoyo sobbed into Sakura's shoulder. "I wish I knew! I left you in sixth grade and I pushed you around. Because I was jealous. That's the truth Sakura, I was jealous."

"Why Tomoyo? You don't have anything to be jealous about." Sakura said calming herself down as she ran her across Tomoyo's shoulders to comfort her.

"I was so jealous, because I thought you had the perfect family. A mom that loved you. A dad that cared for you. A brother that set a perfect example. And I had a dad that had ditched my mom for some tramp at a club and a mom that was almost never home enough to love or care for me. Her business was just taking off then, and she left me with a maid almost everyday! And when she was home, she didn't have the time to play with me or "talk" and the only time she did talk to me, it was about you, and how you were doing! I never knew she kept asking because she knew your mom had died. I was so jealous that you had everything I wanted. But I guess you didn't. And I fought with you over that for years, not even knowing about the truth behind you. I-I bullied you Sakura! I did it and…and I _enjoyed_ it!" Tomoyo cried, still holding onto Sakura's hand as tears slipped down her cheeks into the fabric of Sakura's shirt.

"Shh, you don't have to be guilty. I can forgive you. Because we all make mistakes." Sakura said, a few tears slipping from her lashes, but this time, in happiness. Happiness that she had her true friend back. She rested her cheek on Tomoyo's hair and smiled.

* * *

Saturday came like a blur. That morning, Sakura and Tomoyo hung out all day. In the afternoon, Tomoyo took Sakura for lunch. They talked like old times, and they had a lot of fun. Sakura found herself smiling more and more openly for the first time in years. She was so happy that Tomoyo had forgiven her, and all was right again. 

"I think you should wear this one!" Tomoyo exclaimed happily, holding up a pink long sleeved top and a black miniskirt.

"Isn't that a little short? Maybe something more…I don't know, um…m-modest?"

"Well…" Tomoyo thought for a while. "I have this one!"

She pulled out a white skirt a little past knee length, and a light blue long sleeved sweater. "It's definitely what you'd wear, right?"

"Yes." Sakura's head bobbed a little as she went to change.

* * *

The music blasted loudly as Syaoran took a seat on the couch. Who's party was he at anyway? He'd been invited here, and he probably didn't even know the person who threw the party. He shrugged. Maybe he'd just sit here and be the designated driver for all his friends. 

Rika took a seat next to him. "What's up?"

"Nothing." Syaoran shrugged as he waved his hands at the mob of people dancing in the living room.

"Why aren't you with someone? People always hook up at these parties. Even Meiling-chan is with someone." Rika squinted as she pointed at a form dancing against some other guy's body. "Parties are fun. Just give them a chance, ok?"

The girl left to go to the punch table. Syaoran sighed. He didn't really feel like dancing with someone he didn't know. He didn't feel like getting dead drunk. And furthermore, he really didn't know how to dance. So it was out of the question. He stared around lazily waiting for something interesting to come up. His eyes turned to the door when Tomoyo bounced in pulling Sakura in through the door. She had her hands clasped in front of her and she looked anxious.

He laughed to himself. She did look kinda nice. He watched as Tomoyo headed his way, dragging Sakura with her.

"Li-kun, I need you to watch Sakura. I'm going to get her a drink that's not spiked and well, you're the only one she knows. So, could you just stay with her till I get back?"

"Sure, I guess…"

He hadn't even finished his sentence when Tomoyo disappeared. 'Oh well…'

He turned to Sakura, "So, what are you doing here? Did Daidouji force you to come with her?"

"Um…n-no…I wanted to come. We're friends again." Sakura said, fidgeting uncomfortably as she fiddled with a loose thread on her sweater. "We spent the whole day today and yesterday together. And well…even though it's late to have my first party, I want to have a good time, a good experience, you know."

A soft smile spread openly on her face as she looked at her hands.

"Well, parties aren't that great anyway. You dance and get drunk. Plus your ears go deaf the next day. It's not all that wonderful. Not to mention if you drink too much, you get a real hangover the next day." Syaoran said.

Sakura giggled shyly.

"What?"

"Nothing. If you hate parties so much, why come?" she inquired, staring innocently at him.

"Well, I have to watch Meiling. We're cousins, and we live together."

"Oh…" Sakura thought about it, "I guess it makes sense. You love her like a sister, so you want to make sure nothing happens. It's nice that you care about her."

"I don't care about her, she dragged me here. She wants me to learn how to dance! Think of that," Syaoran scoffed and then realized what he had said. He had told this girl that he didn't know how to dance. Would she laugh? Girls always laughed at guys who couldn't dance behind their backs. At least, Meiling sure did.

"I don't really know how either." Sakura admitted, though she didn't seem too embarrassed. "I've never tried before, at least. You're a guy, you have to learn how to dance. People assume girls know how to." Her voice softened to a whisper, "Do you want to dance with me?"

Syaoran spluttered, "W-what? You said you didn't know how to dance, and I sure as hell am not going out there!"

"Please, Li-kun? It'll be fun. You can't learn without experimentation…and, well, it doesn't really matter what others think, right?" she said this as she stood up and offered her hand.

Syaoran looked into the crowd. He didn't REALLY want to dance with her. He didn't REALLY want to make a fool of himself. But, since he had nothing better to do, why not? "Fine," he grumbled as he stood up from the couch and grasped her hand. It felt so small and fragile in his. Her skin was soft and her fingers warm. He pulled her into the crowd.

She looked around, observing all the other teenagers dancing around her. She frowned as she tried to copy them. Her hips swayed slightly to the beat of the music and she brought her hands above her head. It looked strange and unnatural at first, but her eye lids closed as she fell into the rhythm, and her body swayed as if she had been doing it all her life. Syaoran observed her. It probably wouldn't be right if he did what Sakura was doing right now. He stood awkwardly in the crowd.

He was surprised when her voice interrupted his thoughts, "Do I look like I'm part of the crowd?"

"U-uh…yeah, definitely." he nodded as his hands found his jacket pockets, and he turned to go and retreat to the comfy couch when her hand grasped his wrist and pulled him gently to her side. Her backside moved rhythmically against his chest, and her hands lightly placed his hands on her slim waist.

He was a little taken aback, and his hands jumped as if she had shocked him. She turned to face him. She looked apologetically at him,"I'm sorry. I hope you weren't offended."

"Um, not really, just surprised," he said stiffly.

"How about this?" she pulled his hands from her body, and instead, she held onto them, her arm twisting against his. She swayed a little as her arms forced him lightly to move with her. Before he knew it, he was swaying with her, his chin on her head as he was swept away by the music. He felt someone tap against his shoulder, and he opened his eyes.

It was a girl he had seen once or twice before. She had long black hair that was done neatly in a bow. The white shirt she wore clung loosely to her right shoulder and her jean miniskirt was a little too short. Her black 3 inch heals clicked together as she moved a little closer to him. He'd been nice to her a few times. She was one of Tomoyo's friends. Not close, but she ate lunch with the group. Why was she here? "What?"

"Can I dance?"

"Sure!" he heard Sakura say as she moved from him and smiled at the girl. "I'll see you later, ok, Li-kun? I have to find Tomoyo anyway. She's probably worried."

Sakura ran off as the new girl took her place. Her movements were more open, and definitely not as modest as Sakura's had been. She grinded against him, and he really had no clue what he was doing now.

"Hi, I don't know if you know me, my name's Saihara Hana. We've met before, remember? I'm one of Tomoyo's friends?"

"Yeah, I remember." Syaoran said.

"Well, I was wondering if you would like to have dinner with me, tomorrow."

"Like a date?" he inquired.

"Yes, of course." The girl said as she swung around to face him, her arms hanging on his shoulders.

"Uh, I guess. If you want." He shrugged. Ok, so he didn't want to go, but it wouldn't hurt. He hadn't had a girlfriend since he was in Hong Kong. Maybe it'd be "good" for him, as Wei had said. It's not like they'd be an item after one date.

The girl's grey eyes shined as she giggled annoyingly, her arms wrapping tightly around his neck. "Oh, Syaoran, thank you! Now we can let the whole school know that you and I are officially girlfriend/boyfriend! Hang on sweetie! I'll be back in just a second."

Syaoran gaped. What had just happened there? Oh well. He could dump her if necessary. Besides, she was pretty, maybe he'd get to like her.

"Ok, everyone!" he heard Saihara squeal into the microphone, "Syaoran Li and I are OFFICIALLY going out! So all you sluts keep your hands off of him!"

People turned to look at him. He saw Yamazaki head towards him.

"Wow, you just got asked out by one of the hottest chicks in school! Saihara Hana is known for being extra picky with her men…you got so lucky!" Yamazaki feigned an expression of jealousy, and Chiharu was right next to him to bop him on the head and drag him off somewhere.

Syaoran was feeling pretty lucky.

* * *

AN: It's late, I have school tomorrow, I'm not done with my homework, so I'll stop here. 


	13. New Acquaintances

Summary: AU-She was kind and too forgiving. Everyone picked on her, beat her. She never seemed to hear them, but it was a heavy burden. What happens when she meets Syaoran, a seemingly ordinary bully? Will she forget the past, and move on? S/S

AN: Don't worry everyone, I didn't forget about this story. Just terribly busy…I barely have time to think. I would've updated just my thousand word chapter, but it seemed so plotless (and pointless) so I wanted more in it. Furthermore, I'm not familiar with Japanese pricing or currency, so I'm just using dollars. By the way, I stepped on a thumbtack the other day, so feel sorry for me! Just kidding

Thx for the supportive reviews everyone! I know it was weird how Syaoran and Saihara hooked up…just how the story goes, you know? Ok…anyways, um…to Katycat67, I don't really think it's called conformity if you DANCE, I think dance is a way to express yourself, not to be a slut or wanting to fit in. I mean, I love to dance (ok…--….kinda suck at it, though), and I go to school dances, but I'm not trying to make myself more popular or more liked…? Just trying to hang out with my friends. (Did that make ANY sense whatsoever?) So shrug, different strokes for different folks.

* * *

"talking"

'thinking'

_written/typed_

_flashback

* * *

_

Crystal Dropplets

By Dream4luv

Chapter 13-New Acquaintances

* * *

Tomoyo sighed as she hung up the phone for the 5th time that day. What the heck was wrong with her friends? Just how busy were they? She wanted them to go and meet Sakura already…to become friends, so Sakura could hang out with them without ridicule. But somehow…everyone seemed busy…Eriol had basketball practice, Chiharu was going on a date with Yamazaki, Naoko had to go to the library for a project she had forgotten about, Rika had piano lessons……and the only one's who could actually make it were Syaoran and Meiling.

Tomoyo sighed again. Oh well, two people were better than none. They had agreed to be picked up by Tomoyo in her limo to meet "someone".

"Mom, I'm going out!"

"With Sakura?" her mother asked from the living room.

Tomoyo hesitated a moment, "Yeah, with Sakura and some other friends!"

"Ok, then, go enjoy yourself!"

Tomoyo closed her eyes a brief moment, trying to block out her envy. After all, Sakura had next to nothing, when Tomoyo had everything, it was only fair to share with her best friend, right? She took a breath, reassuring herself and left.

* * *

"Hey guys!"

Tomoyo saw Meiling and Syaoran approaching the limo. She waved lightly as Meiling pulled open the door and climbed in, Syaoran following briefly after.

"So who's this person you want us to meet?" she giggled.

"Oh, someone you already know. I just want you to get to know her. She's really such a sweet person, so she's hanging with us from now on! You'll recognize her when you see her."

Syaoran looked strangely at Tomoyo for a second as Meiling chatted away. Was she taking them to meet Sakura? Meiling's excited voice interrupted his thoughts as they pulled up to a house that he recognized as indeed Sakura's.

"Wow! This neighborhood is beautiful!" she commented, staring at the quaint little houses lined up on the street.

Tomoyo led them, smiling, up to the front door and pushed the doorbell.

"Coming!" they could hear someone say faintly from the opposite side of the door as the door swung open leaving a flustered Sakura at the door. "S-sorry…I was in the laundry room and no one else was home…"

Tomoyo smiled at her best friend as she just shook her head. "Don't worry about it. Can we come in?"

"Oh sure!" she said, opening the door wider and letting the three of them inside.

"Wow…your house hasn't changed much since the last time I was here." Tomoyo walked around the spacious room as she lightly touched the furniture, smiling when she remembered something special that had happened around them.

"We really haven't had too much time to fix it up, I guess," Sakura smiled sadly as she leaned against the wall.

Tomoyo's eyes lingered on Sakura's sad face as she changed the subject, "Hey, Meiling, Syaoran…this is Sakura. Sakura, this is Meiling and Syaoran. I'm sure you guys have met."

"Oh yes, we have," Meiling said, albeit a little snobbishly.

"Uh…yeah." Syaoran said, not really knowing how to reply to that. They had all OBVIOUSLY met before, but he knew what Tomoyo was trying to avoid…the fact that their first meeting and…all the meeting following hadn't been too great.

"Oh yes, hi." Sakura said cheerfully with a smile as she gave a little wave to them.

"Uh, Tomoyo! I need to talk to you!" Meiling said, motioning toward the hallway.

"Oh, ok…I'll be right back, ok, Sakura?" Tomoyo laughed as she followed Meiling. "What is it?"

"Why are we hanging out with her! I thought you hated her!" Meiling demanded rudely as she looked out to where Sakura was. "You shoved her, and you were mean to her, you told us she was trouble, so what's with the fact that you love her now and that she's basically your best friend!"

Tomoyo sighed a little as she shook her head a little disappointed by how Meiling was acting, "Meiling…I was wrong about her, and I regret doing the things I did, and I want us to be friends. Why can't you just BE FRIENDS with her? She's nice, sweet, and caring. She's fun to be around."

"Because she's NOT any of those things! She's not fun to be around. She's quiet and drawn in, she'll just be a big bother to us!" Meiling whispered harshly.

"I don't care if that's what you think, Meiling. But you're wrong, she IS all of those things and MORE! I've known her since forever, and I know her better than you! Don't judge her before you talk to her." Tomoyo said as she stomped away angrily.

Meiling followed behind her, fuming. What did Tomoyo see in Sakura anyways? She was just a hassle to them.

"What are we doing today?" Sakura asked.

"Well, I was thinking we could hang out, go to the mall…the ice cream place at the food court." Tomoyo said ticking points on her fingers.

"…I can't…I um, I don't really have much money to spare." Sakura said nervously, looking at the ground embarrassed as she fiddled with her skirt.

"That's ok, because Syaoran's meeting Saihara at a restaurant near the mall later, so we could just kinda walk around until his _date_." Tomoyo laughed.

"Well…" Sakura thought a moment. It wouldn't hurt to go with her friends to the mall right? "…Ok."

"Great! Let's go, the limo's waiting outside." Tomoyo said as she ran towards the door.

But Meiling just stood there.

"Meiling-chan? Are you ok?" Sakura asked as she looked back at Meiling.

"No!" the girl screamed furiously, "I'm not going! You guys can just go by yourselves! It's not fair! First Syaoran goes running off with some random girl! And next…next Tomoyo decides to just let Sakura into our circle of trust! That was ours, I was in it, but I don't feel like I'm there anymore! I'm leaving!"

The girl ran past Tomoyo, Sakura, and Syaoran.

"Wait! Meiling, you don't know the way home!" Syaoran yelled after her, then catching up to her. He glared, "What do you think you're doing!"

"I'm not hanging out with _her_!" she hissed as she glanced hotly at Sakura, who seemed oblivious to Meiling's glare.

"What? You think you're better than her?" Syaoran demanded.

"I KNOW I'm better than her! Just leave me alone!" the girl yelled.

"Why don't we take you home in the limo? You're not familiar with this neighborhood; just let us take you back." Tomoyo said patiently through suppressed anger.

"Whatever," the girl huffed angrily as she climbed into the limo, the others following.

* * *

"Chocolate please," Sakura asked politely of the man, or more so teenage boy working there. He looked like one of those major rebels, one who nobody hung out with because he chose it to be so. It was strange seeing such a person working at the mall and in a cheery ice cream shop, no less.

"Thank you for coming, it has been a pleasure serving you." The boy droned the required phrase as he handed her the cone.

"Thank you."

As soon as she had sat down, Tomoyo turned to face her, "So, what do you want to do?"

"Oh, I don't know, whatever you guys want to do, I guess."

"Come on, Sakura-chan, pick anywhere."

"We've already been to every store. Would you guys mind if we just looked at the kiosks?"

"Ok, we can do that, and then Syaoran-kun will probably have to go on his _date_." Tomoyo giggled.

"Girls…" Syaoran groaned. Why had he agreed to come? Good question.

Sakura slipped her purse over her shoulder. It had all her extra money. The money that she didn't need for paying bills.

Suddenly, Syaoran noticed a young boy standing behind her. The child was probably only eleven at most. He had a small pocket knife in his hand, and it looked like an attempt to steal the contents of Sakura's purse. By cutting the bottom, he could access it without having to run away because most likely; it would take a while for the person to notice.

"Hey, what are you doing?" he demanded, approaching the young boy.

The child spun back and held out the knife defensively. "You know, it's not ok for you to steal her stuff!" Syaoran yelled. The little thief!

Sakura and Tomoyo turned around curiously to see the boy. Sakura clutched her purse a little tighter. As she examined the boy more closely, she could hear Syaoran yelling in the background.

"What did you think you were doing! She needs that money more than you do, you little pickpocket. I should call security on you! It's what you deserve. Brat!"

"No, no, it's ok. He…I'm sure he needed it." She said lightly as she bent forward to the little boy and placed a twenty dollar bill in the palm of his hand. "It's all I have. You go take care of whatever you need to ok?"

The little boy nodded gratefully and ran along, stashing the knife in his pocket.

"Why'd you do that?" Syaoran asked, "I thought you had to pay your bills…"

"It's only extra money that I've been saving for a while. It's no big deal, I still have enough for the rest of the month and the bills." She reasoned, "besides…the boy probably had something he needed it for…he's too young to work, though…"

Tomoyo hugged Sakura tightly. "You're so sweet. If you need any help, I'd be glad to."

"Thank you, Tomoyo-chan."

Syaoran stared at her. Why was she like that? That's when he noticed the clock. "I gotta go, it's 5:30…"

Tomoyo looked at him strangely for a second then giggled, "Oh right! You're _DATE_!"

Sakura smiled a small smile of amusement. "Have fun."

"Uh…yeah, ok. Later." Syaoran said as he disappeared into the mob of people.

"Well, Tomoyo-chan, I have to go too. I have to go to the bakery at the other side of town."

"Well, I could give you a ride there, then you wouldn't have to take the bus at this hour…you know how crowded it is during this time…people getting off work and stuff. Besides, that's part of the bad side of town, anything could happen!"

"Oh no! I couldn't ask you to do that. It would be strange seeing a limousine at that broken end of town!"

"Yeah! But it's not safe to go down there on your own! You'll get hurt!" Tomoyo argued.

"I'll be careful, ok Tomoyo-chan? I go down there every two weeks. The bakery owner is very kind, and I haven't run into trouble. Don't worry too much!"

"Well…what about bus fare, I thought you gave all your extra money to that boy!"

"Don't worry, I made sure to keep five dollars for bread and I have a bus pass."

"I guess…I guess you'll be ok…" Tomoyo said doubtfully. "Let me at least take you to the bus stop."

"Well, ok."

The ride to the stop was quick; it was only a 10 minute walk away from the mall, after all. Tomoyo gave her best friend a last hug before the limo pulled away.

* * *

Syaoran sighed. Where was she? She was ten minutes late. It was only ten minutes, but Syaoran looked ridiculous standing outside the restaurant. He could hear couples walking by that whispered things to each other like "That poor boy…he's probably being stood up and he doesn't even know it!"

Half an hour had passed, where the heck was Saihara? He checked his watch. It wasn't daylight savings time, his watch was working, so what could've been wrong!

"Syaoran!" he heard Saihara screech.

"Uh…hey."

"Sorry, I took so long. You must've waited a long time for me, but I just couldn't decide what to wear!"

"No, that's ok…"

"Well, let's go!" Saihara said as she dragged the boy into the restaurant.

* * *

Sakura stepped off the bus as she thanked the bus driver politely. She turned left and walked a little ways to reach the quaint little bakery on the corner of the street. She dug deep into her purse to fish out her money as she walked up three steps and pulled the glass door to open it. Maybe it was the fact that she hadn't been looking, but she felt someone pushing against the door before she had pulled it open too much. Her foot caught on the door as she stumbled and started falling down. She squeezed her eyes shut tightly.

But when she expected impact, she felt someone latch onto her arm as they pulled her up back onto the third step.

"U-um, thank you, I guess I wasn't looking. I'm very sorry." Sakura apologized, embarrassed.

"It happens." Her savior shrugged. He grinned. "Besides, it was my fault, you were already opening the door; I shouldn't have pushed it open so suddenly."

"Oh no! My money!" In the time that had passed, Sakura had somehow managed to drop her five dollars at the bottom of the three steps. As she was about to pick it up, a boy with a snuggly orange hat ran by and yanked it from the ground. "What'll I do? I have to buy bread, maybe I should call Tomoyo."

"You don't have to do that; I can lend you five dollars. I have some change left. Here." The boy paused as he took out a five dollar bill from his pocket and held it out for her.

"Oh, no, I couldn't accept this!" Sakura exclaimed, pushing his hand back, "I don't even know you're name. I'd be taking something from a stranger!"

The boy looked shocked for a moment, than smiled, extending his hand towards her, "I'm Tokuzen, Hiroshi. Nice to meet you."

"U-um…Kinomoto, Sakura. It's nice to meet you too."

"So now that we're acquainted, here." He held out the five dollar bill to her again.

"I still, can't take it. It's yours, Tokuzen-kun."

"Call me Hiroshi, Sakura." He said lightly..

"Hiroshi, than…Still, I could never accept this."

"Hmm…? How will we work this out, than? How about if you take this money, you meet me for dinner sometime."

"Oh, I could never spare enough money for that!" she said.

"No worries, it'll be on me, since it'll be a date."

"Wouldn't that be even more bothersome…making you pay for dinner?"

"It's what I would want. Please?"

"Are you being serious?" Sakura asked, a little flustered and blushing.

"Yes." Hiroshi said as he stuck the five dollars in her palm and closed her fingers around it.

"Well…ok." Sakura said shyly, blushing even more. "Excuse me." She moved from him to the bakery owner as she quietly asked for a package of white bread.

She walked back to Hiroshi. "Thank you."

"No need to thank me. I guess this is where we part, ne? Is there any way I can contact you?"

"Um…here," Sakura pulled out a pencil and a sheet of paper that was from a newspaper clipping. Quickly scribbling her home phone number down, she handed the paper to him.

"Thanks. See you, Sakura. I hope you don't blow me off or try to avoid my calls." Hiroshi joked as he waved goodbye to the girl.

Sakura smiled at him and waved back. He was a nice boy. Should tell anyone about this encounter. Tomoyo? Syaoran? Her brother? Her dad? She wondered. Maybe she would wait a little while.

* * *

Syaoran yawned. It was 8:00! They had been in the restaurant for 3 hours and all Saihara had talked about was herself, her hair, her makeup, her dog, her room, her bed, her shopping sprees, her ex-boyfriends (which was seriously unappealing), and well…herself.

When Syaoran had agreed to the date, or being her boyfriend, whichever it was, he had liked her because his first impression of her was a strong willed girl who knew what she wanted and wasn't afraid to go for it. He had thought of her as uncaring of what other people thought. Apparently, he was very wrong. He HAD liked her because she was a strong female character, which was something that he looked for in anyone he dated. But this…THIS! It was NOT what he had in mind. He was completely wrong in assuming what she was like.

In fact, she was the complete opposite. She was self centered and arrogant and constantly boasted of her wealth. What had driven him to go out with her in the first place!

* * *

AN: Sorry, it took so long, everyone! Sorry sorry sorry! Eeks. I've never not updated for so long…not even when I went on vacation! But it's spring break, so I found some extra time to write! Yay! I know everything was strange, once again, but I like to experiment with these characters, besides, don't you think it makes everything seem more interesting? 


	14. Ghosts

Summary: AU-She was kind and too forgiving. Everyone picked on her, beat her. She never seemed to hear them, but it was a heavy burden. What happens when she meets Syaoran, a seemingly ordinary bully? Will she forget the past, and move on? S/S

AN: Hey everyone! Thanks for all the wonderful reviews! I apologize for this late late chapter, I mean…it's been like 4 months? AGAIN? Really, I didn't mean for it to wait that long. My life's been hectic lately, and I've hardly had time to sleep! I won't be able to promise any updates. To xsuppixchanx…I thought it was a little cliché too…but, I only realized after I finished the whole chapter…and I was just….ugh…at least he didn't catch her by the waist, right? Ooh, and about the question mark…I don't know what happened with that, really, since it has one on the word document I typed

I realized I haven't written POVs in a while…so this will be in **Syaoran's POV, in case anyone was wondering, um, flashbacks aren't done in POV, sorry if I just totally lost you there**. Okie dokie! Let's get started! Again, I don't know dollar to yen conversion, therefore, all money is just in dollars.

* * *

"talking" 

'thinking'

_written/typed_

_flashback

* * *

_

Crystal Dropplets

By Dream4luv

Chapter 14-Ghosts

* * *

Monday morning…already? Wow. Why does the weekend always manage to pass like a blur?

I wonder how Saihara is…after what happened last night. She might be a little ticked off. Even though when I think of her selfish, angry face, I can't help but grin.

She's hopeless.

"_Oh! Syaoran!__I had such a _wonderful _time tonight! You are such a gentleman!" Saihara sighed dreamily as she clutched Syaoran's arm tightly. "Thanks for walking me all the way home!"_

"_Uh…It's not a problem." Syaoran mumbled. 'PLEASE! Just let her go in!'_

_He was desperate._

_The girl smiled secretively and let go of his hand. She leaned forward to kiss him. Syaoran panicked and jerked his head backward and knocked slightly into the wall behind him. The girl was shocked. She had never been so embarrassed in her life!_

_Syaoran fumbled to recover as he pulled his head back and tried to not look…too awkward._

"_Uh…Saihara, you know, I really like you," he lied, "But don't you think a kiss would be more special if we got to know each other better?" _

"_Syaoran! I know what's going on here! You just **jerked your head back**! Am I so disgusting to kiss that you would rather smash your head on a brick wall than have your lips contact mine?"_

"_Uh…No! It's not like that at all!" Syaoran lied again…but he couldn't think of anything to say after that._

_Saihara huffed. "Syaoran, you're such a jerk!" She turned the knob to her door quickly and slammed the door in his face._

"_Bitch."_

I sigh. Maybe Saihara will be too humiliated from last night to even come to school? I hope that's the case.

"Syaoran!" a happy voice calls from behind me.

I turn around. It's Sakura.

"Uh…hey."

"How was your date last night? Saihara seems like a very sweet girl! I hope everything went well!" the girl chirps, smiling.

"Oo…Oh! Uh…yeah, it went extremely well! I can't even put how well it went into words!" I let out a fake chuckle. Why am I lying about my date to her?

"Well! That's great, Li-kun! I'm so happy for you!" I stumble and stiffen as she gives me a friendly hug.

I must have looked extremely uncomfortable because she blushes and her smile strains. "Oh, I'm sorry, Li-kun! I really…didn't mean to just suddenly…"

"Uh, no, that's ok." I mumble quietly, even though my cheeks are burning. No one may know it, but I'm extremely afraid of people touching me. I have my personal space. No one gets to violate that comfort zone. Why did I dance with her than? Maybe I was just too worried about what others thought that time…I probably just didn't notice.

I brush off the thought. Whatever. That was then, this is now.

"Where's Meiling? I haven't seen her today!"

"Oh, I dunno…she's around, somewhere…" I say. Who really cares?

"Oh…" Sakura says slowly. "Oh well! I'm sure I'll see her at lunch. I hope she isn't mad at me, you know, with what happened yesterday."

"Nah…I don't think so."

"Ok. I don't want to be on bad terms with her before we even get to know each other!"

The bell rings.

"Well, I guess it's class time." I comment half-heartedly.

The girl nods her head cheerily.

She's different….Somehow. She's a lot happier today than usual. Maybe just because of all the stuff that's happened recently…Does she realize that she won't have to sit by herself at lunch anymore?

"How can you be so excited to go to class?"

"You know, a lot of children don't even get the chance to have an education past the elementary school level. I saw a picture before…it was of a bunch of children, they were so skinny, and they were sitting against the wall of a building surrounded by sand. Their hands were in the dirt, and they were practicing math. I just felt so lucky that I get to go to school, have a desk to sit in, books to read from…You know? Math isn't my favorite subject, but I want to try my hardest because I have the opportunity to do that."

"Well, I guess if you put it that way…" I say slowly. I feel a little guilty that I hate school, but to tell you the truth. I'm a little annoyed with Sakura too…why does she always see the best in things? Is there not a time that she's just a little spiteful?

"Come on, Li-kun! Let's hurry! We'll be late if we don't!" the girl makes a mad dash for the doors. "Li-kun!"

"Coming." I grumble just loud enough so she can hear me.

* * *

"Class. I'm afraid there's a bit of bad news." The teacher drawls apathetically. Gee…I really can tell how bad she feels…not. "The local volunteer spaces that were open for you have too many volunteers. No one can get enough community service hours. Apparently, the opportunities need to be offered to students of other schools too, especially university students. So from now on, all your sites have requested that each team only go in once a every two weeks."

Yay.

Students murmur in suppressed glee. No one really liked taking a part of their day to accompany other people and actually HELP them.

"However…" the teacher continues. "You will all need to make up your grades somehow. So…I have provided you with ANOTHER project opportunity. These…" she holds up a huge packet of paper. "Are stories from all over the world. You and your partner will be randomly assigned a story to investigate. The stories are only around 10 pages each, so the rest of your packets are research report rubrics, guidelines, and questions concerning your particular story. Any questions?"

A student raises her hand. "When are these due?"

"This assignment is due in two weeks! You better get to work. I'll give you one Friday to work on these. The rest of the time is set between you and your partner. I do hope none of you will procrastinate and do this at the last minute. But, because this has nothing to do with our previous project, this grade will determine 20 percent of your literature grade for the semester. So work hard. You cannot afford to fail this one."

Disappointed groans float from the students as they all look at their partners.

"No complaining." The teacher says loudly as she clears her throat. "Now. When I call the two members of your group, I want both of you to come up and take your packets."

Finally…I think Sakura and me are the last group to be called. Great…I hate literature…really, what is the point of reading if it has nothing to do with self defense? Or at LEAST something relevant to the real world.

Sakura squirms as she takes the packet in her hands. I see her eyes repeatedly staring and rereading the title of the story. "The Wailing Woman"? I frown. What's so strange about a wailing woman? Women wail all the time.

The girl stiffens as she returns to her seat. I see her shudder briefly.

"Ok, class. I will give you TEN minutes to decide your schedule of when to do this. Get to work!"

"So when do you want to do this?" I ask.

"Um…could we do it after school sometime?"

"Well…I don't know. We wouldn't have a lot of time since dinner's always just a few hours after. And this packet looks really long. How about after dinner?"

"Umm…" she says nervously, her fingers twiddling.

"What? You have plans?" I ask, getting a little annoyed. Why can't she just say what she wants?

"I-I…umm…" she looks away for a moment, but looks back at me with a nervous smile on her face, "Never mind, we can do it after dinner."

"You sure?"

"Yeah." She nods a little too cheerily.

"Who's house?"

"Maybe mine, I'm not sure Meiling would like me going to your house."

I chuckle a little, which seems to make her less nervous. "Okay."

* * *

After school. Finally! I thought the day would NEVER end. I head to my locker and then go directly to the library.

"Syaoran!"

I turn my head…oh…Meiling. "Hey, Meiling."

"Are you going to the library again? When are you gonna start coming home to do homework?"

"I can't. You're always distracting me." Not to mention…god, I hate seeing family sometimes. They always remind me of what happened to my dad. If that happened to someone else…

"But it's raining!" Meiling points outside.

"Not much."

"It'll be pouring soon. The streets might flood; you'll be walking ankle deep in water!"

"I'll be fine." I grunt.

"Fine. But take this." She hands me her cell phone. "In case you need to call home."

"Ok."

"Later!" she calls as she runs down the hall.

"Bye."

* * *

I check my watch. 5:30. Perfect. I can go to Wacdonald's and get some food before heading over to Sakura's.

I get out Meiling's cell phone and dial my home phone number.

"Hello?"

"It's me. I'm not going to be home for dinner. I'll probably be back late. I'm working on a project at my partner's house."

"Oh, who's your partner? Maybe we can come pick you up when you're done."

"Uh…It's fine. I'll take a cab. I still have some money." Tonight would remind him of the accident. It was raining.

"But, Syao-"

I hang up and turn off the phone.

* * *

As I get outside, it's raining. Like Meiling said. Not pouring, though. I'm not "ankle deep" in water. In fact, the water barely goes past my heels. I open the umbrella.

It's so quiet outside. There are barely any people or cars. As I round the corner. I see an ambulance. And two cars. Ones completely ruined. The man in it is screaming.

I walk by tensely. They've sealed most of the accident zone off. The Wacdonald's is just across the street. I can make it there and stop listening soon. As I'm about to push open the door, the screaming stops. All I hear are officers talking sternly to the other man. The one who lived. The one who came out perfectly fine.

"Sir, we're going to have to ask you to do a breathalyzer test. Have you been drinking tonig—"

I push the door open and run inside. The cashiers at the counter are all murmuring about it before they notice me.

"Can I help you?"

"Could I just get two hamburgers, please?"

"$1.91."

I quickly pull out the money and hand it to her. She gives me the change swiftly.

"Is this for here or to go?"

"To go."

"That poor man. I bet the guy who hit him was drunk…" the first girl mutters to her co-worker.

"Oh, yeah, definitely."

"Here's your food." She hands me a bag that I grab quickly. I look outside. The ambulance is still there. I can't go out right now. I take a seat and eat my burgers there.

6:30. I have to go. The ambulance is about to drive. Just five more minutes. They'll be gone by then. I close my eyes and put my head in my hands. Slow breaths. Just breathe in and out. It's the first time in a long time that I've felt like crying.

* * *

By the time I walk outside. It is indeed pouring. The water's almost covering my shoes. Thank the gods Sakura's house isn't too far away. Maybe 2 or 3 blocks. I quicken my pace. My eyes feel sore. It feels like I'm seeing blood everywhere.

I shake my head to clear my thoughts. It doesn't work like it does in the movies. I feel nauseous, like throwing up.

"_Oh my god…" his mother breathed._

"_I'm sorry we couldn't save him. There was just too much damage. Too much internal and external bleeding."_

_God. He hadn't seen so much blood in his life. Was it possible for one person to bleed so much? He shut his eyes and shuddered, clutching his mother's waist._

_His sisters were hysterical. They were crying…no, sobbing. They looked away in fear. There was blood on the sheets. Why weren't the doctors **fixing** it? The stench was unbearable. _

_His sisters looked away in disgust. They looked away with sadness because they loved they're dad. But this wasn't him. This was a terrifying monster._

_Death was._

_The smell was gagging them. It was suffocating._

"_Let's go." His mother was crying, trying to be strong for her children. She ushered his sisters out of the room, then took one last look at her husband. _

_The last thing Syaoran remembered was staring at his father's mutilated face and his lifeless body lying on the table._

Before I knew it, I was at Sakura's front door. I knock quietly.

The door opens and I see a relieved smile. "Li-kun. Thank goodness you're here. I was afraid something happened to you in the storm."

"N-no. I'm fine." I take a breath to calm my nerves.

"You must be cold. You're drenched. Didn't you have an umbrella?"

I realize that I must've forgotten to use it after going to Wacdonald's. There was too much going on, and all I was trying to do was run from it. My hair is dripping onto her floor. Not to mention my clothes.

"Sorry."

"Oh, no. You don't have to apologize. Actually, I'll get you some clothes. You must feel awful. Just wait here." Sakura says as she hurries up the stairs. She returns in only a few minutes and hands me a new pair of pants and a t-shirt, that's a little too big for me. She smiles apologetically, "They're my brother's. The bathroom's right down the hall, so just change and leave your clothes there. I'll put them in the drier. Oh! Do you want me to turn the heat on? I usually don't have visitors, so I don't turn it on, just wear layers, you know? But it's a little chilly, I'll go turn it on…You just go on and change. And there are towels in the bathroom, so you can dry your hair up."

She leaves again.

Why is she so nice to me? Worrying and giving me dry clothes. Turning on her heater for me. I'm sure she doesn't usually use it because of her financial predicament. But then again, she's nice to everyone.

It doesn't take me long to find the bathroom. I look in the mirror. I look like a wreck. If I had seen myself standing in the doorway, I probably would've shut the door.

"Sakura…" I say, trying her name for the first time. Her name feels so natural when I say it.

"What?" I hear on the other side of the door.

"Uh, nothing." I murmur, embarrassed.

* * *

By the time I come out, I'm nice and dry. I feel a lot better. More stable. I take a breath and walk back to the living room.

I see Sakura sitting at the table. A bowl of hot soup sitting in front of an empty chair.

"I thought you only knew how to make noodles?"

"And soup." She smiles a little. "I thought you might need it."

"Well, thanks," I smile. This time it's genuine. I take a seat at the table.

"So, um, I was wondering, since…well, I think that we can call each other friends now, right?"

I look up, "Yeah, I guess we can."

"So, I just thought, that, um…maybe, I can start calling you Syaoran-kun? I mean, well, that is, if you want to…" She looks down at the table cloth, obviously flustered.

"I think you could," I say, a little flustered myself, I stare off somewhere, anywhere but at her, "Only if I can call you Sakura."

"Really?" she looks up smiling. She laughs.

* * *

"So let's get to work, shall we?"

"Ok." She sighs a little.

"What?"

"Nothing…"

"Okay…so how do you want to read this story, by ourselves, each reading a paragraph, or what?" I ask, flipping through my packet.

"Why don't we each read a paragraph?" her hands shake violently as she turns to the first page.

"Ok."

"You can start."

"This is a story that the old ones have been telling to children for hundreds of years. It is a sad tale, but it lives strong in the memories of the people, and there are many who swear that it is true."

"Long years ago in a humble little village there lived a fine looking girl named Maria Some say she was the most beautiful girl in the world! And because she was so beautiful, Maria thought she was better than everyone else. As Maria grew older, her beauty increased, and her pride in her beauty grew too When she was a young woman, she would not even look at the young men from her village. 'When I marry,' Maria would say, 'I will marry the most handsome man in the world.'" As Sakura read, she seemed to ease up a little. Breathing more smoothly and even managing a smile every now and then.

"And then one day, into Maria's village rode a man who seemed to be just the one she had been talking about. He was a dashing young ranchero, the son of a wealthy rancher. If he owned a horse, and it grew tame, he would give it away and go rope a wild horse from the plains. He thought it wasn't manly to ride a horse if it wasn't half wild. He was handsome! And he could play the guitar and sing beautifully. Maria made up her mind-that was, the man for her! She knew just the tricks to win his attention."

"And so everything turned out as Maria planned. Before long, she and the ranchero became engaged and soon they were married. At first, things were fine. They had two children and they seemed to be a happy family together. But after a few years, the ranchero went back to the wild life. He would leave town and be gone for months at a time. And when he returned home, it was only to visit his children. He seemed to care nothing for the beautiful Maria. He even talked of marrying a woman of his own wealthy class."

"She became very angry with the ranchero. She also began to feel anger toward her children, because he paid attention to them, but just ignored her. One evening, as Maria was strolling with her two children on the shady pathway near the river, the ranchero came by in a carriage. An elegant lady sat on the seat beside him. He stopped and spoke to his children, but he didn't even look at Maria. When she saw that, a terrible rage filled Maria, and it all turned against her children. And although it is sad to tell, the story says that in her anger Maria seized her two children and threw them into the river! But as they disappeared down the stream, she realized what she had done! She ran down the bank of the river, reaching out her arms to them. But they were long gone. She continued running until she tripped on a rock and cracked her skull open."

Sakura gasps as she hears the story. "How can a mother do such an awful thing to her children!"

"I don't know…It's folklore." I reply.

"It was only a few days afterwards that La Llorona appeared. At the exact spot where Maria had drowned her children, when it was a dark and silent night, a voice carried thinly on the wind. It was cold and wavering, choked with tears, calling out 'My children, my children!' In her madness and with the passage of time, Maria had completely forgotten what her children looked like, so she called out for all children. Whenever she found a child alone in the dark, near the water, she took it." Sakura shudders. Her face is pale and she looks terrified.

"Once, a small boy playing along the Rio Grande with two friends encountered her. It got to be late in the afternoon, and then the sun was suddenly gone and the moon started coming up. The two friends were afraid of La Llorona and talked of how she would be out and about on a night like this. They decided to go home, but their friend just scoffed at their fear, claiming it was a story parents told to make children obedient."

"As heavy clouds covered the stars, and everything was still and quiet, a small hole slowly opened up in the clouds to let a hazy, silver moon shine through. The boy stood dumb struck, as he saw a ghostly white form rise up out of the water. Then, he heard the sound. It was a terrible crying sound. 'My children!' He wanted to run, but his legs would not obey, and he felt a harsh coldness slowly move up his backbone. All the hair on the back of his neck stood on end. His mind screamed for him to run, but his legs would not move. He stood rooted to the ground, as a tall woman with a long, thin, pale face that was white as chalk with large, deep empty eyes reached out a withered hand and moaned in a pitiful voice, 'My children!'"

I see Sakura shuddering more. She looks so terrified.

"You know, we don't have to keep reading if you're scared." I say.

"No…this is for school. I can't. I can't be scared…" She replies in a shaky voice. The thunder claps. She yelps and almost jumps out of her seat. We can both hear the rain pounding hard on the ground outside.

"Here. Why don't I just read the rest?"

"Okay." She takes a breath. "It's not much more…"

"The hand took hold of his arm and wrapped long, bony, cold fingers around his wrist. The fingers began to squeeze tighter and tighter. Although his fear was intense, he could not move. The boy felt the woman tugging him step by step toward the water, and he was powerless to fight back. 'My children,' she wailed, and her mouth was as dark and cavernous as the night sky. She pulled him toward the water, drawing him closer and closer to her.

"At that moment a church bell rang. By the time that first tone had wavered off into the night, the boy felt that the icy grip on his wrist was growing looser. The bell rang again and again, and it was as if her fingers were melting away. By the last peal, he was free.

"The boy ran home. When he got home, his mother was very angry, until she saw the whiteness of his face. She demanded to know what had happened, but the boy could no longer speak. He drew pictures to tell what had happened, and there were the terrible red marks on his wrist where the bony fingers had touched him and held him too tightly."

"Oh god…" Sakura whimpers. She claps her hands around her ears and shuts her eyes as the thunder goes off again.

I put my hands on her shoulders. "Hey, are you okay?"

How scared is she of ghost stories? Why didn't she tell me?

She nods and speaks in a muted voice, "I'm fine."

It's already dark out. I look at the clock…8:50. "Look, are you sure, you're okay? I have to go…"

"No…please." She nearly knocks me over as she clutches my arm, "I'm sorry…it's just, I hate ghost stories. Just stay until my brother gets back, please!"

"When will he be back?"

"He should be back a little after 9:00."

"Let's watch some TV to take our minds off the story, okay?"

She nods.

I turn on the TV. The news at 9:00…what perfect timing.

"Power is going out all over the city. We advise everyone to stay in your homes. The cab service right now is closed as well as the buses. There is a flash flood warning at this time in the area of Tomoeda. All schools will be cancelled for tomorrow until further notice…"

I feel Sakura leave the couch as she heads for the phone. I hear her dialing a few numbers. "Excuse me, may I please speak to Kinomoto, Touya, please? What? Oh…they've all been moved to the Motel? Do you know when he'll be back home? Oh…they're closing the roads? So he won't be back tonight? I understand…thank you."

She sighs as her eyes close. She sits back down on the couch. "He's not coming home tonight…"

"Can I use your phone?"

"Sure."

I dial home again.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Meiling?"

"Syaoran, where are you? We've been so worried! We can't pick you up, the roads are being closed down. Syaoran, are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm at a…friend's house."

"Will you be okay?"

"Um, hang on." My hand covers the phone as I call out, "Um, is it ok if I stay over tonight?"

"Yeah, actually, that would be really good if you could…"

I uncover the receiver, "Yeah, I'm staying over. Don't worry, I'll get home tomorrow when they open up the streets."

"Ok, bye, then." I hear Meiling say.

"Bye."

* * *

We must've sat on the couch watching sitcoms for around an hour. She seems to be a lot calmer now. The story must've freaked her out.

Suddenly, a piercing whistle sounded through the house. It sounded exactly like a woman wailing. I look over at Sakura. She stiffens.

"Look, I'll go check it out, okay?"

She shakes her head. Maybe she doesn't want to be left alone.

"Can I come with you?"

"Sure." She stands up and runs over to me, grasping my hand tightly. It actually feels nice. She follows tentatively.

We walk through her house; the sound gets louder as we near it. I push open a door upstairs. It turns out to be just an open window. We both sigh in relief and laugh a little. I go over and pull it shut.

"It'd probably be best if we went to bed." I say.

She nods. "Let me show you your room."

We walk out of the current room. She leads me to a smaller room. It must be her brother's.

"Are you sure your brother won't mind?"

She shakes her head. "He'll understand. I don't have any pajamas though…"

"It's fine, I'll just sleep in this."

"Ok, goodnight, then…Syaoran-kun."

"'night, Sakura."

She smiles a little as she leaves the room and closes the door behind her. I can hear her sigh. Her shadow is still in front of my door. I open the door. She has her back to me and jumps a little in surprise and embarrassment.

"You want me to walk you to your room?"

She nods shyly. We walk side by side as I flick the switch in her room on. I can understand why she's scared. It's dark in the house. And in the dark, humans face the unknown…we face our greatest fears because we are the most vulnerable in the dark, we cannot see what's practical and instead, we see illusions and monsters are imaginations create.

"Thank you." She takes a deep breath. "I really appreciate you staying the night, Syaoran-kun."

"Thanks for letting me stay." I say, grinning a little as I pull her door shut. **Thanks for taking care of me. **I make my way slowly towards the light of my room and close my door.

* * *

Something wakes me up in the middle of the night. It's Sakura…shaking me gently.

"Something wrong?" I murmur groggily.

"I-I'm really sorry…um, to wake you up. I couldn't sleep…I was wondering if you would mind if I climbed in with you? I keep seeing her everywhere."

She puts her hands to her head. A fretful gesture. "Sure."

She gives a sigh of relief and climbs in on the opposite side of the bed, turns the opposite way so we're back to back but our bodies still far from touching. I hear her yawn and soon her breathing slows and steadies.

She could be as helpless as a child sometimes. But she's the kind of person that makes you stronger because you want to protect her.

* * *

AN: YAY! Finally finished! Sorry for the wait! I hope it was worth your while and not too sappy, or needy…I grew up knowing that ghost story, and reading it today still gives me the goosebumps. Please read and review! 


	15. Date

Summary: AU-She was kind and too forgiving. Everyone picked on her, beat her. She never seemed to hear them, but it was a heavy burden. What happens when she meets Syaoran, a seemingly ordinary bully? Will she forget the past, and move on? S/S

AU: Hi, everyone. I know I haven't updated in probably what seems like an eternity. Life's been passing so quickly, I hardly know where the time goes. I guess it's been a combination of things, school, work (of sorts), other miscellaneous activities like reading and catching up to my muse. I would be lying (after all, "omission is betrayal", -little black book) if I said I was working this entire time. I worked a lot, but not always. I read Twilight and New Moon by Stephanie Meyer, I wrote a bit of a sequel to Untitled Memories but decided against writing the rest, and surprisingly, got caught up thinking about another fanfic idea. I'm such a hypocrite. I hate it when author's do that, but at least I didn't post it to tempt you right? It was about vampires, after I read Twilight, I got inspired. But that's no excuse, so I hope I can make this chapter enjoyable. I was also afraid that my writing style had changed within the few months of non-updating and that the characters would become different. So here goes…

On another note, the first time Sakura called Syaoran's name, she was actually supposed to say "Li-kun" but I guess I slipped up and had her yell "Syaoran", just to clarify that. I also don't think I ever had Sakura call Touya "onii-chan" (or however you spell it) before, so she'll just call him Touya still.

* * *

"talking"

'thinking'

_written/typed_

_flashback_

* * *

Crystal Droplets

By Dream4luv

Chapter 15-Date

* * *

Sakura yawned as her sleep misted eyes opened. Her mind automatically expected to adjust her eyes to the sunlight, but none came. She glanced at the clock. 6:00 AM. She shivered and drew the covers tighter to her body (and then blushed in embarrassment to realize that she had stolen almost the entire blanket, leaving Syaoran with a corner). She wanted to go to sleep, but it was already beginning to get lighter outside.

She sat up slowly and leaned her back against the headboard, drawing her knees up to her chest, making sure not to wake her partner. It must have been quite a hassle for him to take care of such a baby. She shook her head at the silly notion. It seemed quite stupid now that she had been so scared with the lightening room.

'I must have been such a bother,' but her lips turned upward slightly into a smile despite herself.

She untangled herself from her blankets and shivered slightly as the exposed skin not covered by her pajamas made contact with the cold morning air. Sakura kept the heat at the minimal level for survival, meaning the heater was off by this time of day. She draped the blanket over Syaoran's form.

She smiled widely as she made her way over to watch the beautiful light of dawn that filtered through the translucent curtains. She lightly pulled the curtains away from the window and stared outside. This was probably one of the rare occasions she'd seen this time of day, considering that she never woke early enough to watch the sky without some semblance of sunlight. It was still dark outside, but at the same time, there was no sun. It was a moment that was shrouded in a combination between magic of the night and the certainty of the day. Blue hour is what she remembered her mother had once told her it was called when she was little.

"Pretty isn't it?"

She looked around, slightly surprised to see Syaoran sit up as he pulled the blanket closer to his body. But she didn't feel compelled to say more. The twilight was beginning to draw her into a trance. She smiled and nodded, looking out the window to the empty street again.

"It's so peaceful." She murmured softly, more to herself than company. Sakura pressed her fingertips against the window's glass. "I never really see this time of day. It's like being somewhere else."

Syaoran nodded, already knowing that Sakura could not see him. He shivered. If he was cold, Sakura was probably freezing.

The springs under him squeaked as he got out of bed and walked over to the girl, pulling the blanket over her small form. She turned her bed slightly and looked at him with emerald eyes, "Thank you, but you don't have to do that. You must be cold. I'll go turn on the heater…"

"It's really okay."

"Here," she shrugged out of the blanket, preparing to hand it to him. "I'll go get mine from my room."

"That's okay. I'll get it." He left swiftly and returned with her comforter around his shoulders. "See? All warm."

She nodded. The two of them stared out at the barren street until sunrise, completely mesmerized, until the magic was broken by the nearly risen sun and the piercing shriek of the phone going off.

Sakura jumped at the noise and pulled the blankets to her body as she ran to grab the receiver. "Hello?"

"Sakura? Did you call last night? We were moved to the shelter."

"I thought it was the Motel?"

"Yeah, it was, but it was crowded with people passing through Tomoeda that got caught in the storm…"

"You had to sleep on the floor? Were you warm enough?"

Sakura heard Touya chuckle a little. "I'm fine. I was more worried about you. I know you hate thunderstorms…especially when you're by yourself."

Sakura's tone brightened a little, "I wasn't alone. Kero-chan was here, and my classmate Syaoran-kun slept over since he couldn't get home."

"He?" Touya's voice turned stiff over the phone. "A boy's there with you? He didn't try anything did he?"

Sakura frowned a little, "No, Touya. He didn't try anything." She looked at Syaoran who was currently still standing awkwardly next to the window looking confused.

"Good. Well, anyways, I have to go now. Tell him your OLDER BROTHER said no funny business."

Sakura looked downright annoyed now, a face Syaoran had never seen happy-go-lucky Sakura Kinomoto pull before.

He realized at that moment how little he really knew her. Sure, he knew ABOUT her, about her life…but he didn't exactly know HER. He didn't know the girl, the person that lived that life. He felt his heart tighten, suddenly wishing that he did. He thought he knew her, about what she went through; he had ASSUMED he knew…he thought he knew because he knew her story, which was stupid, jumping to conclusions never got mortals anywhere, as he had learned from The Phantom Tollbooth in fifth grade. He understood now that he had barely grazed the skin of her character. She was a mystery and his chest filled with unease at the fact that he had made such incorrect, not to mention, immature assumptions.

"_Bye_, Touya." The girl clicked the phone off.

"Had a squabble with someone?"

"Sometimes Touya really annoys me. I know he's always there for me and he's willing to help me…but he's so overprotective sometimes." The girl pursed her lips for a second before dropping it and returning to her normal smile again. "Sorry. That must have been very awkward for you to watch, Syaoran-kun."

"No, I know what it's like. I have four overbearing older sisters that coo over me like I'm a baby."

Sakura giggled.

Syaoran was about to make a comment when the phone started shrieking again.

Sakura rolled her eyes, this time with a look of good humor on her face. "Touya must've forgotten to tell me something." She clicked the 'talk' button on the receiver, "Touya, don't worr—"

She paused and than blushed. Syaoran wondered if Touya had something that would cause her to flush like that.

"I'm really sorry, Hiroshi. I thought you were my brother." She laughed lightly into the phone.

'Who? Hiroshi? Does he go to our school?' Syaoran wondered at the unfamiliarity of the name.

"Um, breakfast? Oh, I don't know about that. I don't have any money right now." The girl continued blushing.

Syaoran heard a distant murmuring on the phone.

"Well, no, I would never ask you to feel so obligated as to pay for me!"

'Is he her boyfriend?'

"Actually, I have company over right now…oh, no! Nothing like that. I guess I could make it there, it's down the street from my house…I can bring my friend? Are you sure? I don't think he has any money either…Oh, no, I couldn't ask you to pay for BOTH of us…Well…I guess, okay. I'll see in half an hour? Okay. Bye." The girl's face was flushed with a healthy pink glow as she pushed the receiver into the cradle. Her hands went to cup her face as if her cold fingers would allow the red to fade.

"Who was that?"

"It was Hiroshi Tokuzen. I met him a few days ago at the bakery…He asked me to join him for breakfast. Gosh…You don't mind do you? He said you could come with me. Would you like to? I mean, it was completely rude of me to just tell him I'd drag you along…" Sakura looked away.

"Yeah, sure, that's fine. I think I still have a few dollars in my wallet." Syaoran managed a smile.

What the heck WAS this? A date? Was she having a date with this guy…if so, wouldn't it be wrong to intrude on their private time? This Hiroshi guy was even planning on paying for "her friend"? Wouldn't that be wrong?

Syaoran pushed away the questions and walked downstairs, as Sakura went to her room to change.

* * *

Sakura face brightened as she entered the café and saw Hiroshi sitting at a table in the corner. She waved excitedly and headed towards the other boy. Syaoran looked around uncomfortably but followed nonetheless.

Sakura looked at the table a little confused. It was tiny, and it was next to the window. There was only one chair across from him. "Um, I'll go get another chair. Syaoran-kun, why don't you go ahead and sit down?"

"Sure." He seated himself across the other boy and eyed him dubiously. He looked a little too nice. The boy was pale and his eyes were light red, while his raven hair draped around his face in uneven wisps. Syaoran wondered idly if this boy was an overprotected albino freak child. "You must be Tokuzen Hiroshi." Syaoran extended his hand.

"So you've heard of me?" Hiroshi laughed lightly and took Syaoran's hand, shaking it. "I'm afraid I've never heard of you though…"

"Li Syaoran." Syaoran inclined his head slightly. "Actually, today was the first time I've heard your name."

"Sakura sure is a wonderful girl." The boy smiled more to himself than Syaoran, "I was surprised when she gave me her phone number. I was expecting her to tell me and say that she was already seeing someone."

Syaoran chuckled a bit at that. "I was surprised she was seeing you."

"She doesn't date much?" Hiroshi glanced at Sakura on the other side of the room fumbling with a chair on the other side of the room.

"I don't know. I've only known her for a little while. Maybe two weeks…not even, probably, but she doesn't really seem like that type of person." Syaoran shrugged as he watched Sakura lugging the huge chair past other tables. He stood up at the same time as Hiroshi, meaning to help the girl with the obstacle. "Oh, uh. Go ahead."

His amber eyes followed Hiroshi as he made his way past the influx of customers to help Sakura. He watched as the girl smiled gratefully. The two were laughing at something Hiroshi had said when he placed the chair at the empty side of the table.

* * *

"Oh, um, I live in the neighborhood. Yeah, I'm by myself most of the time. Both my dad and my brother are gone most of the time." Sakura smiled.

Syaoran noticed that Sakura had left out the part about her father being in the hospital, and the part about her mom.

"What about you, Hiroshi?"

Syaoran also noticed, to his disgust, that Sakura felt so at ease that she didn't use the suffix "-kun" when addressing him.

"Well, I come from a pretty well off family. My parents get me whatever I want, usually, and they give me a lot of freedom to do and go as I please. They're both usually working."

"Oh, where do they work?" Sakura inquired.

"Actually, they both work at the same place. Most of the time they're in China. My mom's an employee for Li Corporations and my dad is on the board of directors, working as the treasurer."

"Oh wow. That's amazing! You must be so proud of them!"

"What does your dad do?"

"Oh, he's an archaeologist. He used to teach at the university too." Sakura smiled, taking a sip of her hot cocoa. As if noticing Syaoran there for the first time since the conversation had started, Sakura turned to him, "What about you, Syaoran-kun? What do your parents do?"

"Uh," Syaoran was reminded of his father, "My dad used to own Li Corporations but now my mom's running things. I think she's the first female CEO they've ever had. I guess the corporation has been in the family for a while…"

"WOW! Your mom and Hiroshi's parents work together? This is such a small world! You guys will probably be such good friends!"

"Maybe." Hiroshi laughed at Sakura's ability to see the best in situations. "What do you say, Syaoran?"

The boy shifted uncomfortably under both of their gazes. No, he didn't want to be friends with him; he didn't know him. He had hardly even participated in this conversation and Hiroshi hardly seemed to care. But Sakura looked like she really wanted them to like each other. "Yeah, sure. That'd be pretty cool…"

Sakura suddenly stood up from her chair, nearly tipping it over. "Oh, no! Have I really been here that long? Touya's going to KILL me!"

Hiroshi smiled politely, "That's okay. You two go ahead. I think I'm going to stay a while longer."

"Well, really, thank you for paying for me, Hiroshi. This is so embarrassing, after you paid for me the last time t—"

Hiroshi laughed and waved, "I don't mind doing it if it's for you, Sakura. I would've paid for you too, if you'd ordered something." Hiroshi's gaze drifted to Syaoran.

"I wasn't hungry." Syaoran shrugged. Even if he was hungry before, he'd certainly lost his appetite after meeting Tokuzen Hiroshi, probably the most perfect of the perfect members of the opposite sex he'd ever met…

"Bye, Hiroshi. I hope we can get together again sometime."

"As do I, Sakura." Hiroshi stepped forward and embraced Sakura in a friendly hug, leaving her surprised and blushing when he stepped backward. "Bye."

* * *

The walk home had been quiet. A small stream of water flowed steadily down the sidewalk, lapping gently at the heels of Sakura's sandals. Sakura's hands were clutched tightly together in front of her.

"Syaoran-kun?"

"Hmm?"

"Please don't tell anyone about this…"

"Why?" He stopped and looked at her.

Sakura stopped as well and turned around to face him, her long sky blue skirt puffing out slightly as the force blew the fabric around. "He's the first boy I've ever been with. I'm just scared that if people know…if Tomoyo-chan knows, she'll get too excited about it. And then she would make me so nervous, planning what I should do…maybe filming something…I don't really know. I'm just afraid that if she does that, gets my expectations too high, tell me to move faster than I can…I'll end up messing something up."

"I'm sure you won't screw things up. He seems pretty smitten with you."

"You really think so?" Sakura looked up gratefully as she leaned against a metal fence, her fingers wrapping around the wires. "That's good. Because…I like him. I mean, I really do; I've never felt this way for anyone before. I was starting to think that I was bothering him…I seem to do that a lot, bothering people, I mean…"

"No you don't." Syaoran sighed, trying to grasp onto any evidence he had that proved her statement false, but he couldn't seem to as her previous words rang around in his skull.

Sakura looked at him, her striking emerald eyes reading into his amber ones, as if delving into his soul to see the truth, as if she were unsure. Unsure if he had meant what he said. She took a breath and covered her face with both her hands, allowing the fence to cushion her weight. She removed her fingers and a smile replaced the doubtful expression she had before.

"You're right." The bounce returned to her step as she left the fence and continued walking.

Syaoran stared after her, surprised she had gotten over her doubt so quickly. He walked a bit faster until his pace matched hers.

"Sakura, can I ask you something?" he asked tentatively.

"What is it?" she looked up at him, curious.

"I was wondering…why didn't you mention your father's illness to Hiroshi? Or your mother…?"

Syaoran half expected Sakura to ignore his question or become sad…All she did was smile at him.

"I don't think Hiroshi would want to know that right now. I don't want him to know that there's such an awful part of my life. He would feel sorry for me…I don't think I want to hear 'I'm sorry, I didn't know' anymore. And I KNOW I don't want another casserole if he finds out my mom died." She giggled at her own implications.

"How can you be like that?" Syaoran asked, exasperated. "I know you don't think what's happening is funny."

"I don't know. I guess it's okay, you know, to be sad sometimes because your dad's ill or that your mom died, but I don't think they would want me to always be unhappy when I think or mention them. _I_ don't want to be unhappy because of that. I realize there are those days when everything just goes wrong. You ask 'What did I do to deserve this?', but I have no doubt that when my mom died, she went to a better place, and if someone else dies, they will end up in that better place, too. I'm just mourning for myself and what _I've_ lost, what I no longer have. And I do that because I'm human, and I'm selfish. But most of the time, I recognize the fact that my parents would like me to move forward and find happiness, or at least pursue it."

"Wow…"

Sakura looked away shyly, "Sorry, was I rambling?" When she didn't hear an answer she peeked at Syaoran's face, which was more contemplative than annoyed. "Um, Syaoran-kun, can I also ask you a question?"

"Go ahead."

"I was just wondering, that, um…in the café, you mentioned that your…dad, he was the head of the corporation right? You said that your mother had taken over for him…Where did he go?"

She noticed that Syaoran visibly stiffened. "He died, in a car accident. A drunk driver hit him. You'd expected the impact to kill him right away, but he actually suffered…his body was broken and there was nothing they could do but give him pain killers, and that didn't even help too much. My family just sat around waiting until he died. Twelve hours…And you know, it's stupid, but it's like when you're a kid, you always think that your parents are invincible, and then shit like that happens and it's like a reality check."

His voice was bitter.

Sakura nodded, and she gave him a sympathetic look. "I feel awful for bringing it up."

"Are you apologizing too?" There was some tension in the air and there was a long pause, the only sound to be heard were their footsteps clapping against the sodden ground.

Sakura looked away and shook her head slightly, "Only if you want me to."

"No, I'm sick of hearing apologies too. My dad knew all these huge business heads and everyone in his company too…they always came by and gave us this look. That look like they pitied my family, pitied my mother for being left as a widow to take care of five children…and under all those looks they gave us was the real question, not 'Are you okay?' or 'Do you need me to take care of something?'…the real question was 'Who are you appointing as the new CEO to the company?'" Syaoran laughed a hollow sound and looked away from Sakura. He was disgusted by humanity.

"That's why your mother appointed herself and took over the business?"

"Yes."

Syaoran felt his arm being tugged away from his side as he felt Sakura's arm hook around his. She leaned closer and rested her head on his shoulder. He was grateful, as he had found before, for her presence. The two walked the rest of the way like that.

She looked up again at him and a soft smile graced her face, "Syaoran-kun, I'm really glad we're friends now."

"Yeah."

* * *

AU: Well, there's chapter 15, I guess. How was it? Please tell me! I hope the characters didn't change too much…I seemed to have forgotten how they were before. Was it too intimate at the end? Is that what friends would do? I thought it would be more appropriate for them to loop arms since that doesn't imply as much as holding hands…Again, sorry for the late update. I hope I have made this worth your while! Please don't butcher me for not making them wake up spooning or something. I didn't want to make it too cliché. 


	16. Death and Dying

AN: Sorry everyone for the incredibly late update! Like…the year long update. -- Again, I do apologize for my absence. Let's get on with it, shall we. I think I'm going to speed up the story a bit.

* * *

"talking"

'thinking'

_written/typed_

_flashback

* * *

_

Crystal Droplets

By Dream4luv

Chapter 16 – Death and Dying

* * *

**Syaoran's POV**

It's been a week already and Sakura hasn't been in school. I haven't seen her since the date with Hiroshi. Why do I catch myself staring at her seat wondering where she is?

I know she never misses school. She's under the impression that she can't. But what happened?! I feel nervous for some idiotic reason just thinking about it. My stomach feels sick thinking that something happened to her. I know she's strong…that's how she's made it this far, but she's not _that_ strong!

After sitting through an entire day of school, I can hardly take it anymore. I hurry to her house after school, trying to rid my gut of that sickening panic.

When I knock on the door, no one answers. And that somehow makes me feel even more sick. Did Hiroshi pull something on her? Was she kidnapped? Where the hell is she?!

I'm getting impatient, but all I can do is sit at the front steps and wait. The sky is darkening and still no lights appear.

After five hours, I finally hear foot steps shuffling towards the house. It's difficult to see without any surrounding lights, but the street lamps illuminate a figure similar to Sakura's. I sigh in relief.

"Sakura, is that you?"

The girl squeaks in surprise. "Syaoran-kun?"

"Yeah…I've been waiting a while for you. You haven't been in school all week." I stuff my hands in my pockets.

Her voice is tired as she answers, "I know. The week's been hectic. Come in." She attempts to restore the warmth to her voice, but she only sounds more haggard.

As she flips on the switch in the house, I notice that she has huge bags beneath her eyes. And she's skinnier…a lot skinnier. "What the hell happened to you?"

Sakura drops her bags to the floor and falls against the wall as if all the strength in her body has left her. She rubs her eyes and tries to seem more energetic, but her face is about three shades paler than usual. Her entire frame looks smaller than the time I had seen her almost a week ago.

Her voice shakes, "It's…my dad. He's sicker. And the treatments aren't working…the only treatments we can afford aren't working…" Tears are welling up in her eyes and I don't know what to do. "He's…dying."

Shit.

"Are you sure? Have they tried everything?"

"Of course I'm sure! Don't you think me and Touya would try everything in our power to ensure his life?!" Sakura snapped.

I stand in shock. I've never heard her raise her voice. Her face is tense.

"I-Sy-Syaoran, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be like that. It's just that I've spent so much time in the hospital this week, and I haven't been sleeping or eating or doing much of anything but running around looking up new treatments." She pressed her palms to her eyes and looked up trying to smile. But in the attempt, more tears just ended up falling and she sank to the floor crying.

I feel awkward just standing here watching, but how do I comfort her? I've never tried comforting a girl before…never mind a crying girl!

My brain's on automatic. I set myself next to her and hold onto her hand. She clasps it tightly shaking so hard.

"Come here." I whisper slowly, pulling her closely to me. If only she could be closer, but that's not even physically possible anymore. If only she could be closer so I could protect her better.

I can't help but notice how thin she is in my arms…as if I'm holding nothing.

"Why don't I make you something? You look like you could use some food…"

"Okay." She manages to breathe out.

I walk her over to the couch. She curls up on it, drawing herself in.

Why the hell is it so cold in her house?! I walk upstairs and bring her the comforter from her bed and head towards the kitchen.

I open the refrigerator, but there's hardly anything there. Some old vegetables and ham lay lonely in the refrigerator along with a box of eggs. I dig through the cabinets in hope of something else, but all I find is all sorts of boxes and bags of noodles. Maybe I could make some noodle soup?

After half an hour of fumbling for ingredients, the soup doesn't look half bad. I ladle it into a bowl and take it to Sakura.

I don't think I've ever seen someone so vulnerable. Her eyes are puffy and she looks like a five year old who's been left behind on vacation with no idea where to go.

"Here, this is all I could make."

"Thank you." She accepts the bowl and sips slowly.

"You have to eat more if you want to feel better." I say.

"I can't…I don't feel up to it."

"Look, Sakura, you're not going to feel any better if just stay curled up on this couch. Eat. It'll make you feel more energized and ready to face whatever's happening." I reason.

Sakura takes my advice and reluctantly eats the noodles. Her appetite seems to return as she eats.

She settles back into the couch when she's done, curled up again. "How much time do I have left with him? I can't believe I wasted so much time…"

"You still have plenty of time as long as you make the most of it." I reply.

Her head turns into the comforter as she closes her eyes and cries. "I can't seem to stop crying. I've been crying this entire week. Why can't I stop?"

I don't respond. All I can do is be there. Words can't comfort pain.

* * *

My eyes open, and I wonder where I am. I find myself draped over Sakura's couch. The sleeping girl is at the other end, still curled in the comforter. She looks more peaceful, now that she's sleeping, but a certain level of distress still appears on her face.

Thanks god it's Saturday. At least then she'll be able to have a break.

The girl looks as if she'll break if anything more happens. Literally.

I glance up at the clock. 10:00 AM already. I drag my body off the couch and manage to scramble some eggs. I gently shake Sakura awake for breakfast. Today she seems better…more cheerful. She eats the eggs and even manages a smile.

"Thanks for helping me last night. I do feel a lot better." Sakura manages. "Sorry I cried so much…I didn't mean to scare you…"

"No, no…it was fine." I lie. Last night, I was a nervous wreck. "Come on, let's get out and do something. To take your mind off things."

"I can't. I need to get back to the hospital."

"That place will just make you sadder." I say, though I know she has to go. Who knows how many days her dad has?

She shakes her head.

"Why don't we go out and get something for him? To make him feel more at home?"

Sakura cheers up at that idea. "I think he would like that! I've always wanted to make him a scrapbook…"

"Then why not? All we need are some pictures and some material. Should we head to the crafts store?"

Sakura nods.

My heart settles now that I know she's happier.

* * *

"Oh, and he'll like this picture!" Sakura holds one up of the entire family out at a picnic. "But…this is our only copy of the picture…should we reprint them from the film roll?"

"If you want to. Then you'll have a copy too."

She smiles and nods.

* * *

I offer to pay for the reprints. I know money has been tough on her family right now. And then after…too…when they have to pay for the funeral.

She turned me down at first, but I insisted. I told her she would respect my wish to do that if we were really friends.

I feel bad that I exploited our friendship in order to help her, but I know she needs it. And I'll never hold it against her. God…and only 3 weeks ago, I had hated her and resented her for no reason at all. Guilt still eats at me for my stupid behavior those few weeks ago.

* * *

Sometimes, while we were making the scrapbook, Sakura would start crying over one of the pictures. She would paste it onto the page sadly. Probably because those memories could never be relived.

I assume the only thing that was keeping her going was the gift she wanted to give to her father.

The scrapbook was finished by the end of the day. My contributions to it probably only included holding the glue stick and cutting paper.

When we delivered, I could see that Sakura was struggling with her tears. She wanted Fuji to be happy, but at the same time, she didn't want her dad to see her upset.

"Thank you so much Sakura-chan. It's been a while since I've seen my family." Fuji smiled.

I found myself smiling and laughing with Sakura and her father. It had been a while since I felt like someone's family too.

* * *

AN: Sorry for the short chapter. I'm still trying to get over writer's block. Till next time! Which will hopefully be a lot sooner than last time! 


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